A fresh concept has arrived on Lavender Hill: The Shelf, a new “community shop” where local makers can rent a shelf to showcase their creations. Blending creativity with practicality, it offers a modern twist on how independent retail can thrive in Clapham Junction.
We write a lot about retail! It’s fair to say Clapham Junction’s shops have held up remarkably well over the last few years, despite a pandemic, huge increases to energy costs, a notable growth in theft, increased National Insurance costs, tightening (and costly) environmental standards for business premises, and the ongoing competition with cheap-to-run online operations. That continued local success comes down to a lot of imaginative people running many of our businesses – as well as to this being a relatively rich area, and having a fairly active population who go out and use their town centres rather than driving off to big retail parks.
But retail is very much evolving. We’re seeing more food shops, and the food shops we’re seeing are focussing more on food to go and fresh, now that a portion of their customers are getting the heavier, longer-life stuff delivered. We’ve also seen far more businesses focussed on fitness and beauty – with at least a dozen gyms, from huge luxury options like Third Space to the smaller and more specialised individual training and exercise gyms run by personal trainers at the eastern end of Lavender Hill, and notable growth in coffee shops and cafes.
And something even more innovative has just opened, next to Sendero Coffee at the eastern end of Lavender Hill. The Shelf is the project of local resident Taras, who is putting his dream of having his own community shop in to practice. It’s been beautifully renovated over the last few weeks and is looking very much the part.
The Shelf showcases small independent businesses and individuals, with a range of art, ceramics, homeware, beauty and skincare, and jewellery and accessories, as well as plants, postcards and cards, and candles.
The unusual thing is that this is a shop that is open to anyone to sell in. You can rent a shelf to sell from- with the rates are completely transparent, typically £50 a week for a small shelf & a 10% commission on sales (with discounted rates for longer presence).
The Shelf take care of everything else – the premises, the staff, the rates, the payments, the advertising and the customers.
For sellers, you get a professionally presented retail space in a smartly designed good location, for a fraction of the cost of a full storefront.
The store’s been designed in a way that should make things look good – with a mix of layouts, and all fitted with soft lighting, to give a clean, neutral stage that lets the products stand out.
Their strapline is Rent a shelf, we’ll take care of the rest!. With no long-term leases, no hassle – and with thousands of passers by each week, it gets real visibility from real shoppers.
Traders can rent short-term, test a new product line to see how it sells, or grow into a bigger display as the business expands.
And for us residents – it’s something new and quite unique to Lavender Hill, and a way to discover new brands and support local, perfect for gifts and treats.
Of course you can buy things online – but as the novelty of some of the online retailers well and truly wears off amid a flood of Temu-type rubbish that’s really not worth it, the idea of The Shelf is maybe a way for actual physical retail to work in a modern era – and to serve smaller makers, artists and designers whose products stand up to close inspection.
Because this is somewhere you have a much better feel for the look, feel, and also quality of the products, and it;s a way of doing so in a relatively affordable and simple way.
Our photos give a feel for what was on offer when we visited – but with the mix of people renting space here, this will change, with new products in every week; we have seen this is becoming a bit of a regular stop off for people on their way to and from the likes of Sainsbury’s and Sendero.
The rest of this post gives a feel for what’s on offer. If you’re around – do visit The Shelf; and say hello to Taras and his team.
The Shelf is at 4 Lavender Hill, London SW11 5RW – close to the junction with Wandsworth Rad, Cedars Road and Queenstown Riad. They’re open daily, from 10-6 at the time of writing (web / instagram).
This article was originally published on lavender-hill.uk and edited for CJI.
Lavender-hill.uk is a community site covering retail, planning and development and local business issues, and sometimes posts like this one on transport and the environment – all centered on the Lavender Hill area in Battersea.
