An Aberdeen fashionista has revealed that her fight to survive the city centre bus gates has derailed her dreams of starting her own clothing line.
On Monday, it will be two years to the day Victoria Mutch opened Style for your Shape at the bottom of Schoolhill.
For two years before that, Victoria ran the size inclusive brand as a pop-up business around Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, building up a loyal following all across the north-east.
The Macduff-raised oil and gas worker had hoped to launch her own clothing line in her shop last autumn.
At the same time, she was drawing up plans to take Style for your Shape on the road, eyeing up a months-long pop-up in Dundee ahead of Christmas.
But everything changed as sweeping changes were made to city centre roads around the bus and train stations, as well as on her doorstep.
“The picture was very different this time last year,” she tells The Press and Journal.
“There were savings set aside for designing wir own clothes. I would love to be able to design my own range.
“I had been to look at a few different venues in Dundee too.
“And then I just had to pull the plug on that. Fortunately I had yet to signed a deal because that would have put us in a difficult place.
“Everything has turned from a growth mindset to survival, which has been really difficult to see as a business owner when you’ve put a lot of work into something.”
Bus gate challenges have cost Victoria her clothing line savings
Savings put aside to start Victoria’s clothing range have been sunk back into keeping her business going.
Expansion is on the backburner as she gives serious consideration to leaving her premises, which is owned by the Bon Accord Centre.
Mall bosses gave Victoria a “great deal” for her first 12 months in the unit, which she took after success at their Curated Aberdeen space.
Next Friday, two days after the council votes on the future shape of Aberdeen’s roads, she plans to mark her two year anniversary with special offers at a prosecco-popping, by-appointment-only evening shopping event.
But Victoria is still unclear if that will be her last milestone in these premises, with her lease up in January.
Her shop counter has become an outpost for our Common Sense Compromise campaign, with newspaper coverage, flyers and QR codes on show for shoppers to see.
Aberdeen bus gates could drive Style for your Shape out of city centre
“We will have to seriously consider options,” Victoria admits.
“The first 14 months in the shop were fantastic. Now, we just have to focus on surviving this period.
“I have big decisions to take at the end of the year as to whether we stay put, or look at a different location outside of the bus gates and LEZ.
“It’s my Aberdeenshire customers – good, loyal customers – who are speaking loudest to me about relocating.
“They are finding it difficult as they are less familiar with the city centre layout.
“They are panicked, they don’t want to get fines, they can’t afford them and they don’t want to feel afraid in their cars.”
‘From growth mindset to survival’ in numbers
Those anxious Aberdeenshire customers account for around 45% of Victoria’s trade.
Along with regulars from Moray, Angus and Fife, they are now more likely to shop online with Shape for Your Style.
But away from the shop they are spending less than they would in person, placing smaller orders.
The bus gates were installed on Market Street, Guild Street and Bridge Street in August, as well as the right turn ban out of Union Terrace towards the now one-way and part-pedestrianised Schoolhill.
On average, it’s hit turnover at Style for your Shape by about 30%. The decline has been far greater some months.
Challenges for Schoolhill traders well-documented
And that has already cost jobs.
When Victoria had to reduce hours at her shop for one of her nearly full-time staff, it was agreed the scraps left were not enough.
The individual “understandably” left and their hours have not been offered to anyone else.
“So there is a three or four day a week role that has been lost through the shop since October last year,” Victoria complains.
The shop owner has fallen foul of the restrictions on Schoolhill herself.
Unloading a packed car full of clothes after a photoshoot, she was handed a ticket by a warden for being there before 4.30pm.
It was the only time she could enlist help with lifting equipment from her vehicle.
Motorists are only allowed on the eastern section of Schoolhill for loading between 11am and 4.30pm, giving delivery drivers only a two-hour window at the beginning of the day to work to.
Victoria is on her third round of appeals of the £100 ticket.
“To get a parking fine when you’re just trying to do business is… I don’t know what the right word is. It’s not very welcoming?” she says.
Upheaval has already driven florist Flower Vogue from Schoolhill to Thistle Street.
And the well publicised departure of Haigs food hall was a “big loss” as they brought many to the area.
Enter stage: A Common Sense Compromise
Victoria is one of the business owners who contributed to the Common Sense Compromise on the Aberdeen bus gates.
On Wednesday, councillors will be asked to make all the city centre road change permanent.
The Press and Journal has joined forces with businesses and organisations like Our Union Street, Aberdeen Inspired and Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce to find a middle ground to help traders survive as the city centre undergoes its multi-million-pound makeover.
We are asking the council to:
- Keep the Guild Street bus gates, along with restrictions on Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate
- Remove the bus gates at the Adelphi and Market Street, allowing access in both directions through Market Street
- Remove the bus gates on Bridge Street, allowing full access in both directions
- Remove the right turn ban on Union Terrace
- Issue a warning rather than a fine to first offenders
- Use fines to help city-centre businesses via transport initiatives
‘We are not confronting the council’
You might notice there is no action requested on Schoolhill. And struggling Victoria says that should show how keen businesses are to be heard.
“As part of the Common Sense Compromise, I recognise we want to reduce the flow of traffic on Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate.
“So, as a business owner on Schoolhill, I am not fighting that. I have agreed that I think the way it is is fine.”
Once central Union Street reopens and buses are no longer diverted along Schoolhill, she hopes more will be done to turn the area around.
“Schoolhill is a really nice street. It’s a shame to see it the way it is,” she tells us.
“It’s a really popular walk with tourists from Marischal College up to the art gallery.
“With cruise ships coming in last summer, we saw big increases in foreign footfall in the shop.”
Will the Common Sense Compromise work? Well, Victoria believes it could be a big enough message from the city that folk from Aberdeenshire are welcome back.
“But it will depend on how it is received by the public if it’s backed.
“We’re not confronting the council. We are just asking them to listen.
“At the last meeting I asked to speak but was not allowed – so it felt like it was a done deal.
“I would ask them to let businesses speak this time around as ultimately, we all just want Aberdeen to succeed.”
You can find out more about Victoria’s plans to celebrate her second year of business at 2 Schoolhill on the Style for your Shape Facebook page.
More on our Common Sense Compromise
The Press and Journal is standing side by side with Aberdeen businesses and business organisations in an appeal to reach a Common Sense Compromise.
But we can’t do it alone – we need your help.
If you would like to back our Aberdeen bus gate campaign, add your name to the petition launched by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce HERE.
Other ways to show your support and have your voice heard can be found HERE.
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