Dear UK and International ColleaguesThank you very much for your considered views and comments on the AAD Blog during the past few days which total nearly 650. In view of Daniel Bexfield’s plight, which is a scenario we have experienced on a number of occasions in London recently, I thought it might be an opportune moment to begin a discussion on why we find ourselves in this position again.
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Please find below some questions to which your Input would be gratefully recieved:-
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o- What is it that makes the Antiques trade a non-viable proposition for landlords and freeholders of premises such as the Burlington Arcade?
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o- What is it that our sister market Contemporary Art, seem to be getting so right, that we seem to be missing out on?
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o- Why is that we have lagged behind for so long in comparison to our sister markets? With the launch of FRIEZE MASTERS 2012, what is it that FRIEZE ART FAIR can see in our market that we cannot see for ourselves?
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o- How can we change the perception that a large number of todays younger clients have of the older Art and Antique market? Is it now time to address the fundamentals of our Industry?
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o-If aware of succesful initiatives to turn round similar situations where a dealer tennant is at risk of loosing their trade, due to rent pressure in the UK or abroad, what might be the tips and lessons to be shared?
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What are your own views?
Perhaps event organisers and landlords reading this post would be kind enough to offer their valuable suggestions?
With best wishes, AAD Blog
Stanley
November 1, 2011
It will be especially tragic if people like Danial Bexfield are forced out. The reason why Burlington Arcade is such a popular place with visitors to the capital is that it contains interesting shops like Daniel’s.
There are already too many cloned shopping streets containing famous brands like Rolex, Tiffany and Prada – and, let’s face it,. they are really only posh chains. If, in future these are all that will be in Burlington Arcade, the owners of these chains will probably eventually terminate their leases when, as it eventually must, the footfall drops.
Knightsbridge, Bond Street, Westfield are all monolithic and boring. London loses all its character if we force out the little, quirky bits. If you ask present visitors to Burlington Arcade why they are there, it’s pretty obvious that they will reply it gives them the chance to shop and at the same time enjoy a little bit of history and tradition.
I feel this particularly keenly because I trade in antiques in Portobello Road and I know that if all the antiques shops disappeared – and this is happening now – and are replaced by expensive clothes shops, coffee house chains and t-shirt vendors, then our enormous Saturday footfall will shrink. When this happens, not only does valuable tradition go out of the window, but you should be aware that ultimately rateable values start to fall too.
Stanley Solomons
Director
Druce Antiques Ltd
117 Portobello Road
London
W11 2DY
Caroline Penman
November 1, 2011
As a dealer of just on 50 years, and an organiser of 45 years, I have seen many changes – almost all downwards! It was for ever thus. But the rich are always rich, and need to be encouraged to “make the world go round” by spending with the not-so-rich.
The art is to inspire confidence in top quality tangible assets which may take a dip, but which always emerge the winners in better times. The understanding of this principle comes earlier in life for the rich, but for the majority of us, midle age is when it hits home.
So Contemporary Art is having success with the younger mega-rich, while traditional artifacts are having a hard time as the middle aged man or woman in the street has lost the feel-good factor (we hope temporarily).
As a fairs organiser encompassing antiques & Contemporary Art in the mid-levels, I see the Contemporary dealers now struggling as much at the antiques dealers. We certainly need to be paddling hard to stand still… Positivity needs to be broadcast as much and loudly as possible at all times, to encourage the feel-good-factor!
But heaven knows how we do it!
Edric
November 1, 2011
It is easy to answer some of the questions
Because Antiques dealers are a greedy jealous penny picking lot as a hole and most of the conversation is ” I am doing badly or “I doing well ” or I bought a great lot, I was the under bidder, etc many could well be dealing in Potatoes.
Example when The Auction Houses started their Premium , in the 70s I forget which year, I remember going to Auctions at Sotheby and Christies and there they all were the so called big dealers at the time complaining standing behind columns leaving bids on the book etc . But Talk to each other in a constructive way NO CHANCE, I remember saying to some of them at the time the Auction Houses are on there knees , if you don’t bid for a couple of months they will have to change their strategy and charge the seller giving the dealer more than advantage , 1] greater possibility to buy because the seller will see how much they are taking 2] put the whole amount against VAT against the purchase price. Not only has this only hurt the trade it has given the business to the Auction Houses who now control the business , the clients, the marketing and have gone generally from strength to strength , and I forgot one of the most important things the Create the Theatre where the clients love to Perform.
Re Renting a shop I don’t remember exactly the year I tried to rent a shop in Pimlico Road , initially the landlords [ Grosvenor Estates no less ] seemed willing then suddenly, not only the price was trebled but they wanted to rent to Starbucks , when I said a I would pay the rent and if they rented to Starbucks it would change the character, they said they did not care and did not want any more antique dealers in the street . And like so many places including the like Portobello Road the atmosphere changed by a single landlord that does not care about people. It OK , Yes it OK the whole of every city is going to have streets full of FROCK SHOPS , I am not sure who is going to buy that many FROCKS but you will be looking at them.
Having walked around Frieze and I don’t know why it had not dawned on me before , Don’t you all realise something , we are living in THE AGE OF ” THE KNIGS NEW CLOTHES ” do you think that one day we are going to wake up to the fact.
Edric van Vredenburgh
P.S. One has to wonder what the Grosvenor Estates are going to do with the Marche au Puses in Paris may be one Very Very Large Frock Shop
rick B
November 5, 2011
Edric – spot on! I have been trying to rally dealers against auction houses for years. But your characterization of antiques dealers as “greedy…….”etc is correct. You just left out one thing – DUMB. Even used car dealers know enough to not give their merchandise to public auctions, or allow the public to attend auctions. We will all be out of business soon, as everyone buys at auction now. It doesn’t matter that auction prices are now higher than dealer retail. It’s all about the perception of getting a bargain. Even though they haven’t a clue as to what they are purchasing. We supported the auction houses for eternity, and now they are out to eliminate ‘the middle man’.
Ian Harris
November 1, 2011
Dear Elliott
The problem of the art and antiques trade generally is that it is fragmented, with a very large number of very small (by international standards) individual traders. From a landlords’ point of view, they would far rather have a huge multi-national tenant for whom the rent and rates are a fairly minor consideration, and can take the view that certain locations are essential to their image even if individually non profit making. The major fashion houses rely on huge international sales of perfumes and cosmetics with huge profit margins, and so they must be seen in the world’s major shopping streets. For many years we had a large shop in Conduit Street. The rent was affordable because in those days it was a street of many travel agents and individual businesses, so rents were relatively low. Now it is full of fashion I could not possibly survive there. Business rates are rent based, so they have risen proportionately.
The large auction houses, who can afford PR and advertising, get lots of publicity. There is always a story forthcoming – about the next sale, or the last sale. The auction houses have very astutely become retailers, and are doing their best to cut dealers out- as I predicted thirty years ago they would. At the time of the introduction the buyer’s premium, BADA referred to the auction houses as ‘our colleagues’ I said they should be viewed as our enemies-and so it has proved.
As for why contemporary art has flourished, absolute crap though most of it is, it has become fashionable through the endless proselytising and publicity generated by a few major art dealers, Nicholas Serota and Charles Saatchi, and the publicity generated by the Turner prize, and the production of ‘art’ that is designed to shock. Rich, gullible people think that displaying this stuff marks them out as rich, and trendy. It is nothing but showing off. I’m afraid a Pembroke table does n’t have quite the same effect.
The antiques trade stays divided. It shows how unwilling antiques dealers are to get together by the pathetically few who are members of LAPADA, which is easy for any respectable dealer to join, or BADA which sees itself as elitist, and probably does n’t want more members. When I was on the LAPADA board, many dealers complained membership –around £500 a year-was too expensive. They could never see the overall benefit to the trade that comes from a large, well-funded organisation constantly proselytizing and publicising. Consequently, neither has the money to make an impact. I don’t see a way round this problem
The only consolation is that fashion will change. People will get bored with minimalism. Younger trendies may begin to see through the contemporary art scam. And of course we need the ‘feel-good’ factor to return. The present state of the European economy is not encouraging. The super rich will continue to fight at auction for the very best at ludicrous prices, but that does n’t help the average £100,000/£2 million a year turnover UK dealer. I don’t think there’s much point into getting to 25-year olds. It’s mid-thirties onwards when they start buying and furnishing.
So-more trade co-operation, more funding, and find a few helpful and antiques-friendly high-profile people to come on board. The news that Stephen Fry is tweeting 3,000,000 is a great step forward. Can he be persuaded to go a bit further? Does anyone know him personally? Are there other high-profile tweeters? Maybe LAPADA should try tweeting and Facebook? We must makes antiques seem trendy, or at least make people aware that there is an alternative to modernism.
Cordially
Ian Harris
http://www.nbloom.com
rick B
November 5, 2011
I may have to rescind my comments re antiques dealers being dumb. Well said Ian! I agree with everything you said, especially the part about getting after the 25 year-olds. I think it takes a level of maturity and sophistication to appreciate fine antiques. And in most cases, that comes with age. How do we fight back against the auction houses?
Warren
November 1, 2011
Hi Elliot,
Would he like a shop in Portobello? We would welcome good dealers.
Best regards
Warren
Alexis
November 1, 2011
To play devils advocate, what is the solution to this problem?
It could be argued that the Burlington Arcade is a very good example of private enterprise helping to rejuvenate an area, bringing much needed injections of life & cash into a neighbourhood that had lost its way but is well and truly catering to the super rich.
I think the backdrop of this tragedy provides a massive opportunity for the antiques market to rejuvenate itself and find a new market.
Off the top of my head, I would consider setting up the antiques worlds equivalent to an artisan farmers market (think Borough Market) and market this concept aggressively to the media channels that count – they love anything new and innovative.
Essentially, you’re looking for the less is more aesthetic targeting the modern upmarket person.
Locations for something like this could be Bermondsey (taking advantage of growing artisan food scene there, made up of people defecting from Borough Market for similar reasons).
Alternatively setting up a brand new venture in a undiscovered part of London with lower price points like the Holloway Road – which has enough upmarket through traffic from the Saturday visitors driving to Waitrose from Hamsptead/Highgate – plus is close enough proximity to Islington, Camden & Shoreditch to capitalise on a trendy buzz……..here you could play on the Islington links at Camden Passage.
These are just ideas, but I think we need to look at ways of resolving the problem using private enterprise and investing in the future of this industry…….
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Alexis Williams | Head of Arts Advertising
Financial Times | One Southwark Bridge | London SE1 9HL
* Email: alexis.williams@ft.com
Financial Times – Winner of Media Owner of the Year at the Festival of Media Awards 2010.
Ian Harris
November 3, 2011
It is no use relocating to some out-of-the-way area like Bermondsey. The rich predominantly live or stay in Mayfair and Kensington. Mostly they tend to impulse shop, and if it is n’t close at hand, they won’t bother. The only solution for dealers in small, high-value items is for them to find a building and turn it into another Grays, but maybe with some larger units. Unfortunately, this means a developer with the cash and clout to make it happen, and the co-operation of a substantial number of dealers, something which is sadly lacking. When we were in the Bond Street Antiques Centre years ago, I tried to organise an advertising campaign for the Centre. The cost was minimal – about £12 a week per stand – and I did all the organising- but even so, many dealers would not join in, and some paid for three months and then gave up. It also seems, bearing in mind the number of centres that have closed because a better return was available from single occupiers, that dealers will have to pay more, and become more professional. Turn up in Grays at 10am and half the stands are still closed, ditto by 5pm when it is open until 6. Apart from the biggest or most successful dealers, shop or premise sharing is the only answer, but it must be central, in my view.
Warren
November 1, 2011
There has been a lot of recent discussion and press reporting about the future of The Portobello Road Market and my role in its apparent demise. A small section of this reporting has been based on truthful events and on people?s opinions, which I absolutely respect. However, far too much of it has been inaccurate, politically based nonsense aimed at the royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the forthcoming local elections in May. The remaining parts, including several damaging newspaper articles, contain serious misinformation about the recent letting of 282/292 Westbourne Grove to the retailer All Saints and many personal attacks directed at me.
The overall suggestion is that Portobello Market is under threat from property developers such as me, and unless the Council brings in legislation to protect it, the market will die. This fact in itself, is quite simply not the case. Portobello Market is not under threat from anyone as far as I am aware.
The Council own, regulate and run the market and it is entirely their decision as to what to do with it. Primarily I believe they need to accept this responsibility and instead of bringing in new legislation, they should focus on the fact that it could be drastically improved. Likewise the shops on Portobello road are not being developed into a ?High Street clone?. However, the shops and antiques arcades in a small part of the road are facing mounting financial problems and I would like to discuss a solution to these problems that is not based on archaic protectionism and retrenchment to a bygone era.
Many of the recent protesters? assertions about the redevelopment of 282/292 Westbourne Grove are either simply untrue or deliberate distortions of actual events. Similarly, the attempts to suggest that my company (The Portobello Group) has sinister plans for redeveloping our arcades on the Portobello Road into mass retail outlets are totally unfounded. We, like other shop, business and arcade owners in the antiques section, face many different problems. We need support and assistance from people who understand the issues and want to address those problems.
Commercial redevelopment around the market is a consequence of these problems, not their cause. The varying factors putting pressure on the market are complex; they reflect the way the area has changed and the way this has impacted on the antique dealers who use the market. Those issues can?t be summarised in a press slogan or solved by a wave of the legislators? wand.
I would like to bring anyone who has an interest in The Portobello Road Market together to start a proper debate. This would be a non partisan discussion about the factors which are causing the decline in the market and what can be done to reverse that trend. I want us to address the real issues and share our aspirations for the future, not just try to protect the past. This document is an effort to get the ball rolling by attempting to put forward my view of the problems and what I think is required to allow the street to evolve with the times and the market to prosper and thrive.
We all have a lot to lose. If the current trends continue without anything changing, the antiques section of Portobello road will go on contracting and, bit by bit, it will eventually die. This very real prospect may eventually stop people coming to Portobello road altogether and that would be catastrophic for us all.
Warren Todd
Portobello Group
http://www.portobellomarketlondon.com
Torkild Malfait
November 1, 2011
As a foreigner (Belgium), sorry for my bad English.
About the Antiques trade : There is only one way to go : All antiques dealers has to unify and settle down a new “world”-center.
Do look at the past : all antiques-centres were taken over by other businesses.
Brussels – Sablon : Same problem. New shops are selling cloths, perfume, chocolate, etc. In the point of view of these businessmen : they found the right place to do their new business. So, in a point of view, Antiques-dealers makes an area “great” untill other businessmen takes over the area.
Comparing that to the auctionshouses : There is one thing the auctionhouses does not have what the antiquesdealer does have : EXPERTISE.
Antiques-dealer must communicate much more and explain the difference.
A young modern-art buyer does not care if a mahogany table is 18th or 19th or 20th century.
Generally, the buyer of a 18th century antiques is interested if he will urn some money the day he will resell his antiques.
Within some years, I bet on it, there will be only one or two websites which will cover the complete antiques-business, based on the auction-principle.
Why can the Antiques-dealers not unify the business and create a “world”-website of antiques, in the manner of “Do you want Antiques ? Go and see that website !” and not the auction-website. CINOA has started quiet good, untill they excluded non-Britain dealers.
The antiques-dealers can offer something more than the auction-houses = EXPERTISE.
But at that point, the offered branch must be large – that’s why to whole business has to unify against the auction-houses.
The train is passing, and we even can not jump on it !
Torkild
http://www.torkild.com
Exhibitors
November 1, 2011
Dear Torkild
How has the trade in the Sablon managed the change? Has there been any collaboration between the Antique trade and the new stores? Are there any succesful sollutions that you have found and can share with the dealers in the Burlington Arcade and Portobello Road?
Tony
November 4, 2011
Tony Duke •
I was once a dealer (& an Auctioneer) in the UK but now I try (& try & try) to make it as an Appraiser in Canada. As many of the comments have so clearly pointed out the lack of cooperation amongst dealers is our downfall. We must largely blame ourselves – not just greedy landlords coffee shops & the Auction Houses.
For the last three years my wife Beth & I have been trying to organize Dealers on Vancouver Island to participate in our FREE website so that they can get themselves known. http://www.VanIsleAntiques.com We offer to list (for NO FEE!) every single Dealer on the Island so that visitors could easily find somewhere to shop for their Antiques.
We asked Island dealers for submissions & news about antiques related events, we even went to the trouble of listing all contact info & mentioned any specialities that they may have…..The overwhelming response? – ‘not interested’, ‘can get by on my own’, ‘don’t want other dealers to know what I’m doing’. And on it goes….
Who cares about apathy? Well we all should..
We must cooperate & communicate. The days of Steptoe & Son & the ‘orse ‘n cart have passed us by… & so hopefully have the days of the snotty, snobbish, stereotype ‘posh guy’ dealer who makes clients feel like they are intruding.
Grief, if coffee shops & burger joints can all manage to thrive on the same street then surely we can get our act together & cooperate too? Sharing knowledge is not a bad thing!
Nachem
November 5, 2011
Hello, any tips for someone (actually my wife) who just very recently started a small scale antique jewelry business?
Nachum Katz (nachumkatz@yahoo.com)
Israel