Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

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framerchap32
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Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by framerchap32 »

I'm reading different stories of framers either closing as they are classed as retail or staying open as they are deemed manufacturers. My council decided I wasn't eligible for any financial help during the last lockdown as my premises is on an industrial estate and was classed as a workshop. Does it depend on location maybe, any thoughts anyone!?, Thanks, Simon
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by YPF »

If customers visit to place and collect orders and you have a customer area for consultation then there must be a retail element to your business. Whilst that may not persuade the council to offer financial assistance it does mean you should be able to operate a click and collect during the current lockdown.

Different type of business but on a local industrial estate there is a full blown shop (they happen to sell meat), it would be interesting how the council treat that business for lockdown assistance and the VOA for business rates.
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prospero
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by prospero »

To be honest, my working procedures haven't altered to a great degree. I have a shop with a shop window but for
the last few years I have had the door closed and a sign saying "Go round the side and ring the doorbell". :D
Nobody can just casually stroll in and start poking about. I'm on my own so I cannot sit in the shop like a lemon all
day waiting for someone to come in. This actually has been highly successful. Anyone who actually takes the trouble
to walk 30ft is likely a serious customer. It's a good timewaster filter.
I now let people in one (family unit) at a time.
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by pramsay13 »

I consider myself manufacturing.
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by Not your average framer »

I was in an opposite position, where the local authority was completely happy to give me the money, but having moved premises and had a stroke, I had not been able to truthfully state that I was actually trading on the date that the form required me to state that I was. So I had the choice between making a false statement and getting the money, or not claiming the money. The local authority was completely happy for me to make a false statement and were expecting to be making the payment on that basis.

I was not prepared to make a false statement, so I did not claim the money. The local authority clearly were able to exercise some flexibility in my case and your local authority probably also were able to exercise some flexibility for you and chose not to. They were probably choosing to not be helpful, when the government were already instructing them to be more helpful and flexible.
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by Gesso&Bole »

You are both.

The lockdown rules mean that you are not allowed to open as a retailer - so you can't allow people to come in and browse, or even come in for retail consultations by appointment.

You can, however, continue to go to work, as can your staff, and you can still carry on normal business activities, such as framing pictures, carrying out renovations or repairs on your premises, receiving deliveries, making deliveries, and 'click and collect'. Click and collect doesn't mean you need a website, the transaction could have been done by telephone or email, or WhatsApp, you just can't invite customers to come in and spend half an hour selecting a frame. Retail customers shouldn't be leaving their houses except for essential purposes, but everyone is allowed to go to work if we are unable to work from home, so an artist (for example) who was buying frames from you for work, would be allowed.

So it very much depends on the sort of customers that you have, and the type of work that you do, as to whether it is worthwhile staying open.
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by BeatnikFraming »

My understanding is that there are a couple of different grants available.

One is for self employed people and gives you a percentage of your wage, 70% from memory. This has been available since the November lockdown and was available for 3 months wages, you can apply still until the end of January. They may well extend this for the new lockdown. They asked you to self assess if your business has been effected enough to claim it and gave examples of who could receive the grant.

The other grant is related to your business premeciss and depended only on if you pay business rates or receive rates relief. It shouldn't matter if your in an industrial unit or retail, if your workshop has a rateable value then you qualify. If your in a shared property though and sublet this might disqualify you I guess, though I know in liverpool they have made exceptions for artists studios etc. I guess it's down to the individual council. There are some requirements around how long you've traded for as well.
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by BeatnikFraming »

jay
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by jay »

Soooo.... My understanding is my customers shouldn't be "clicking & collecting" from my Workshop as it would mean they were leaving their homes on a "non essential journey"? (Exceptions to this could be Artists/Interior Designers etc collecting work for Business purposes - I guess?) But, here's the thing..... I could deliver to my customers, travelling the same journey, but in reverse, and it would be deemed essential (for the survival of my Business) Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense! Yesterday I announced on my Business page that I was closed to new consultations, but would work on pieces already designed for "click and collect". Today, since a further tightening, I have posted I'm closed! :-? (This is Scotland, so not entirely sure if it's the same restrictions as others)
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by Not your average framer »

I am sorry to hear that. It must be very hard for you. I hope that you can hold on for the moment.

Best wishes for these difficult times,
Mark.
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by Not your average framer »

I find the conclusion that you can not trade at all during this time very disappointing. I need to operate in difficult conditions when I I have finished getting my new premises. So I have sought advice from my local authority and have agreed ways of operating without falling short of their requirements. Although I will in time have the shop fully fitted out with perspex screens, I also a diabetic and an asthamaticwith a severe history of affalectic shook, so I wont be inviting customers into my shop, during times of heightened risk, so I will be operating with a screen blocking off the front door and a small hatch fitted in this screen to pass things in, or out of the shop.

Maybe contacting your local authority might be helpful to you too!
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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Re: Am I retail orc manufacturing!?

Post by Richard Photofusion »

We're not allowing anyone in, but we're still working (currently only two of us in production at opposite ends of a 4000sq ft floor). Ours is a diversified business, all photographic related. Film processing, scanning, printing, exhibition production, frame installation, as well as online training. All other staff are furloughed, or work from home.

Drop offs at the door by appointment, deliveries same, collections either in person, or by courier, same. All payments run via paypal merchant services (must change that, but it's not broke, and given reduced staff numbers, not got time to fix it).

We're taking the view that if people can travel to collect a takeaway, they can travel to us. Equally we're providing manufacturing services for freelancers and businesses. Given that traffic volume has dropped massively, plenty of our clients are cycling / walking / driving to us (central Brixton), for covid secure transportation and transactions.

Tier five has halved my commute time to 45 minutes each way - I'm lucky to have a space to park in the service yard in our building. Prior to March 18th, I'd not driven to commute to work in over 20 years. But I'm going from bubble, via bubble, to sensibly secure bubble, and we get to continue trading.
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