Sports Direct IOM

[thesultanofsheight]

21 hours ago, John Wright said:

The property was cheap. Money in the bank earns next to nothing. They get a capital asset, they occupy at market rent, from one hand to the other, or low rent. They're quids in either way. Better return than bank, or rent free. They have spare units they can rent out. They improve footfall dramatically, the value of the centre shoots up. 

Thats my read.

Yes I get that and I don't disagree. It's a big capital investment when they could have perhaps have got better value elsewhere in the UK where they would see better footfall and maybe higher rents though was where I was coming from. It will be interesting to see how busy the store is when finished and whether people will still prefer to shop online. I can't see them selling that many pairs of £600 jeans to Millenials in Flannels when Peter Luis couldn't make it pay selling £300 Ralph Lauren chinos to a much wealthier demographic, and Tynwald Mills can't get a deal on selling the premium branded outlets to the people in the Channel Islands.

[notwell]

Surely compared to the UK this is actually an ideal place to invest and open a store? Decent average wage, plenty of large retailers doing well here (when compared to their other group stores nationwide) and most importantly no major sports and sportswear business to compete with. 

[thesultanofsheight]

2 hours ago, notwell said:

Surely compared to the UK this is actually an ideal place to invest and open a store? Decent average wage, plenty of large retailers doing well here (when compared to their other group stores nationwide) and most importantly no major sports and sportswear business to compete with. 

But our median earnings (median pay being the pay of the middle person had the entire population been lined up from highest to lowest) are actually lower than the UK.

https://www.gov.im/categories/working-in-the-isle-of-man/earnings/

I doubt many sports wear buyers are in any higher earning category either. So if Peter Luis couldn't make money selling £300 chinos to bank workers how will Flannels sell £600 jeans to people largely in the Median group? Plus even after wages we have comparatively higher utility, rent and mortgage costs which probably means disposable earnings are actually lower here than they are in the UK.

Which retailers are specifically doing well? Have you seen any accounts? 

[finlo]

6 minutes ago, thesultanofsheight said:

But our median earnings (median pay being the pay of the middle person had the entire population been lined up from highest to lowest) are actually lower than the UK.

https://www.gov.im/categories/working-in-the-isle-of-man/earnings/

Plus comparatively higher utility, rent and mortgage costs probably mean disposable earnings are probably actually lower here than they are in the UK.

Which retailers are specifically doing well? 

 

Significantly lower disposable income compared to the UK, there was some dude on Manx radio a while back who was over here doing some survey who concluded you needed to earn a six figure salary here to lead a similar lifestyle to average Joe in the uk.

[thesultanofsheight]

42 minutes ago, finlo said:

Significantly lower disposable income compared to the UK, there was some dude on Manx radio a while back who was over here doing some survey who concluded you needed to earn a six figure salary here to lead a similar lifestyle to average Joe in the uk.

That wouldn't surprise me at all to be honest. I don't believe it would be £100k or anywhere near though. 

[Kopek]

6 figure salary to match the average Jonny English? Really?

We'd be a right bunch of glums if that were so!

[finlo]

11 minutes ago, Kopek said:

6 figure salary to match the average Jonny English? Really?

We'd be a right bunch of glums if that were so!

I'm only saying what I heard, maybe ask Mr Peters if he remembers the interview.

[dilligaf]

1 hour ago, thesultanofsheight said:

1 hour ago, finlo said:

Significantly lower disposable income compared to the UK, there was some dude on Manx radio a while back who was over here doing some survey who concluded you needed to earn a six figure salary here to lead a similar lifestyle to average Joe in the uk.

That wouldn't surprise me at all to be honest. I don't believe it would be £100k or anywhere near though. 

Edited 18 minutes ago by thesultanofsheight

My guess would be that we would need 15-20% more to be at the same level.

[finlo]

44 minutes ago, dilligaf said:

My guess would be that we would need 15-20% more to be at the same level.

150% mark up on the gas, worlds dearest electric, cost of getting on and off the rock etc, are you sure about that?

[Tarne]

You need £40k a year here to have as good a life as £20k over there imo if you don't already have a house here. 

[thesultanofsheight]

4 minutes ago, finlo said:

150% mark up on the gas, worlds dearest electric, cost of getting on and off the rock etc, are you sure about that?

I've always believed that if you don't have a joint income around the £50k mark as a family it's a real struggle to have a decent lifestyle here if you have kids. Everything day to day is just far too expensive all your money just goes on bills and living costs.

[finlo]

9 minutes ago, thesultanofsheight said:

I've always believed that if you don't have a joint income around the £50k mark as a family it's a real struggle to have a decent lifestyle here if you have kids. Everything day to day is just far too expensive all your money just goes on bills and living costs.

Agreed,  I earn what sounds like a decent wage but it's all swallowed up just paying the bills here.

[Kopek]

Sounds like a case for Social Democracy!

[thesultanofsheight]

10 minutes ago, finlo said:

Agreed,  I earn what sounds like a decent wage but it's all swallowed up just paying the bills here.

I've seen it recently with a guy who works for me. Came over from Manchester and the salary figure he gets looks good compared to what he was on in the UK. But he's now paying £950 a month to live in a flat that would have cost him £550 a month where he was. The gas and utilities are killing him and the price of going out and shopping are a lot more than in the north of England. He's already told me he's considering moving back after only 2 years as they're thinking of starting a family and he can't see that it's possible to do that and have a life here. It's sad really. People just look at the tax rates not at the cost of actually living here compared to the UK.

[woolley]

6 hours ago, llap said:

The transition of power from nations to transnational corporations is something I don't see any solution to, as they play nation off against nation. This has been a deliberate tool by the ruling elites to bypass and undermine national democracy and sovereignty. The only way to really take it on is most of the major nations of the world teamed up to put a stop to it, but they're too busy competing with each other for the crumbs from these corporations, or the nations' governments are run by people who are in these corporations' pockets or even boards of directors, etc. The effect this has had on labour for the past 30 years is really alarming and I only see things getting worse before they'll get better.

Exactly. You are describing globalisation in action. It is a scourge. Every time I attack globalisation on here there is a deafening chorus defending it as progressive. Hook line and sinker. Go figure.