Classic Town shop revitalised by move

Friday 09 November 2018

Guernsey's model shop has been given a new lease of life following a move further up Fountain Street.

The store, which sells classic model kits, lego, paints and other goods has particularly seen a business boost as more cruise ship passengers have been coming in, and the owners believe it may be because of the shop's slight change in location.

Father and son John and Steven Cocks have run the shop for decades now, with John starting in the Commercial Arcade for 18 years, before moving to number 18 Fountain Street for 34 years. Now, they have moved up to number 34 Fountain Street, where they've seen a jump in customers.

"We think it is because we are now past the zebra crossing, which isn't something we had thought about before," Steven said.

"It makes sense really, people walk up on the side of the market and then cross over, and walk past the shop, or they come down the steps at top of the road and then come down, and cross over again. People can look properly into the window now and see that we have all the kits."

The refreshed success the shop is seeing comes as a new spotlight is being put on high street shopping in the UK, as the new government budget put some focus on attempts to revitalise some town's dying shopping centres.

But in Guernsey, plenty of traders, like John and Steven Cocks, are still making ends meet. 

Pictured: The Guernsey Model Shop moved up Fountain Street from Unit 18 to Unit 34 - a strange coincidence considering John Cocks worked in the Arcade for 18 years, and in Unit 18 for 34 years.

As a veteran of the high street shopping industry, John Cocks said a lot has changed in his time, with the internet obviously being the big change. But it was not something he felt affected them as badly as it could have.

"The internet is the biggest thing that churned up how we did business," John said.

"At the start we definitely saw footfall slowly decline, but these days, we feel that the effects of online shopping are diminishing. Then another big change was when everything started being made in China - that really affected our prices and margins, and was also quite a big shake up."

Steven added: "Particularly with new rules, we can give people access to things like spray paint, glue and batteries etcetera, which you can't order online anymore, because they can't ship to they island, but we can get them in."

Pictured: John Cocks at work in the old shop.

John started business in the Arcade working for Fletcher & Son in the arcade selling fishing gear, with some models available for sale in the shop. At one point, he had the opportunity to buy the business for himself, and had managed to sell all of his stock he started with in the first six months.

"It was a great time, and it went really very well," he said.

"Scalextrics took off for me, people wanted them, no matter the price, so we were importing them from the USA. I am proud to say I have never once been in the red while trading in Town."

Pictured top: The model shop is now open in its new unit further up Fountain Street.