That up there is a photo of the electricity bill I received a few weeks back. It relates to the three months when we ran the Created in Birmingham shop and, in case it’s not clear, the number at the end is £17,552.56.

£17,552.56.

That ruined a morning.

As I’ve said before, the CiB Shop lost me a bit of money. I’m fine with that because it was a heck of an experience and a Good Thing to do. However, an extra five-figure sum was another matter entirely. ‘Surely’, everyone said ‘there’s been some mistake’. Maybe so, but when there’s a bill like that in your name it’s still a scary mistake.

Anyway, long story short, it was a mistake. Day and night rates had got twisted and the actual amount payable is £433. Which sounds a lot better. Big thanks to the helpful lady at British Gas Business who worked out what had gone wrong.

In short, though, the room decided to go for it, to form a committee / steering group and to meet next week with the intention of opening a second Created in Birmingham shop in the city centre around November.

I opened with a 15 minute presentation about the Bullring shop. Here’s the video:

My aim here was to explain what happened, communicate some facts and figures but mostly set the tone for the evening. Yes, the shop was a good thing, yes Birmingham needs something like this and it should happen again. But I’m not going to do it myself. Someone or some group need to make it happen.

Must say I’m rather pleased with my rousing finale at 13:00. Made up on the spot, that was. Anyway…

My notes are sketchy but it probably doesn’t matter. The important details of what will happen will be figured out in the next week or so. What matters is the general picture that came out of the room.

• The first decision was that paying rent was a no-go. In order to pay the estimated £80 – £250,000 a year for a good city centre location we’d need to seriously compromise how we did business. So we’re looking for other options.
• It was suggested that property landlords would be interested in giving free rent for 3 months to interesting ventures such as this. It might be possible to hop around the city for a year or so in this manner, at least until the recession ends and landlords can fill their units again. Further to this the notion of an always moving, always changing shop appealed as long as loss of customers could be mitigated.
• A tentative model of a series of sequential popup shops in good locations supported by a hub (either a lockup or cheap shop in suburbs) and website was generally seen as the best option.
• At the very least the room saw it as essential that something was open in the city centre this Christmas so as not to lose momentum and, of course, to make money to support the project.

We then moved on to the organisation structure. This was the critical part for me. It didn’t really matter what we were going to do – what mattered was who was going to do it. We agreed that some kind of committee or steering group should be formed. But it was also agreed that co-ops, while nice, are fragile and some sort of benevolent dictatorship would be needed.

After a couple of hours I brought the general meeting to a close and asked anyone who would like to be part of a committee to stay behind. 13 people stayed with various skills and such. Some were pertinent for getting a shop up and running, some were more useful for once we have a shop. I’m going to concentrate on the former for now. After I’ve gone through what we’ve currently got I’ll explain what happens next.

We only took first names so I’m guessing at surnames using Eventbrite – they may be wrong!

• James Thomson: Sits on various arts committees. Can help with organisational structure. Likes data analysis.
• Alison from People Shop: Has run People Shop for 10 years. Nuff said.
• Jeff Stuka: Works in marketing. Has planning and business experience. Was very vocal about need for business plan.
• Andrea Daniels: Business analysis and retail experience. (Also interested in managing shop but that’s for later.)
• Jamie Roberts and Alex Church: Work in commercial property sector. I repeat, work in commercial property sector. Can help with securing pop-up shop locations and liasing with property owners. Also have contacts in industry eg shot fittings, etc.

Those six had what I’m calling the hard skills needed to find a shop and get it off the ground. Others volunteering for the committee were Kathryn Rushe (whose minutes I’m relying on right now), Simon Gray, Steve Cooper, Karen Cameron, Matt Murtagh and Dennis McNulty. They either offered skills more suitable for later stages or that essential outsider perspective. Essentially they’re willing and able to commit.

And then there’s me. I’m taking charge here but only for the transition. I need to be able to walk away from this project if needbe.

So, what next?

The urgent thing, from my perspective, is that we have a strong and viable core committee to get us a shop in November. While the six people above are better that I could possibly have hoped for there’s still room for more and I know some very interesting people weren’t able to make it on Monday.

Also a benevolent dictator hasn’t emerged yet. We really need a benevolent dictator.

The next meeting will be sometime next week (I’m going to run a Doodle poll to see when most people are free). If you think you’re like to be in this core committee please email me with details of what skills, contacts or other things you’ve got.

Right now I’m not interested in people who can offer time or enthusiasm or who can help build and run the shop. I’m interested in people who can make the shop happen. Level-headed business-minded types. The rest of you will be essential but your role comes later.

Please get in touch.

And if you have any thoughts about this, whether you were at the meeting or not, please use the comments below or, like Simon did, write something on your own blog.

Thank you all for your time, your energy, your thoughts and ultimately your support.

Incidentally, we’re out of their now, so if you’re interested in leasing it the details are on the sign there.

Hello, this is Pete with one of my occasional retail-related posts on the CiB blog.

It’s been 6 weeks since the Created in Birmingham shop closed. Since then I’ve had some time off to recover and have started thinking about beginning the process of commencing planning for the second shop, tentatively scheduled for late September.

From this you may infer a hint of uncertainly, a reticence almost, so I’ll cut to the chase.

• I think there’s a good case for there to be another CiB Shop.
• I don’t feel capable of doing a large swathe of the things necessary to get to that stage.
• And, if I’m honest, I’m not sure I want to own and run a shop in the long term.

Developing this further:

• The CiB Shop, at it’s zenith, was powered by the community. Without diminishing the time, effort and investment we put into the shop we couldn’t have done it without the incredible support of our suppliers, customers and supporters across the city. The challenge for me was shepherding this torrent.
• Since closing there’s been a huge desire for the shop to happen again. Barely a day goes by without someone asking when it’s going to to open.

I had a meeting last week with the Economic Development bod at the Council. It was a useful, if sobering, meeting but one thing stuck in my head and wouldn’t go away.

• If the community wants this to happen they should invest in it.

That doesn’t necessarily mean a financial investment. But it does mean a constructive investment in making the shop happen and ensuring it’s sustainability.

Maybe I’m suggesting a co-op or collective model, coupled with the benevolent dictatorship necessary to get a bunch of arty types functioning together. But whatever the method I think we need to go in mob handed.

I’ve booked the upstairs of The Victoria on Monday 26th July. The meeting will start at 7.00pm to allow folk to travel in. I’ll start with a short presentation covering what we’ve got and what the current options are and then chair a big discussion. With any luck there’ll be people in the room who are good at the things I’m rubbish at and who want to do the things I don’t. And then we can have a shop.

Please register on the Eventbrite page so I have an idea of numbers and so I can stay in touch after the event.

Hopefully we’ll see you there but if you can’t make it we’ll be recording what’s said for popping it on the blog for time/space-shifted debate.

The shutters are down and the windows have been papered up. It’s as if we were never there.

A big thanks to everyone who’s been involved – to all the staff (Aaron, Dennis, Matt, Aaron, Charlotte, Frankie, Ian, Dan, Ruth and Jess) and all those who stepped in to volunteer their time when they were needed (Mark, Ellie, Jo, Karen, Laura, Nick, Louis, Leonardo… dammit, I’m going to start leaving people out now, sorry! You know who you are though).

Thank you to everyone who hired a stall, performed, exhibited, hung out, attended something, told your friends, written/blogged about us or otherwise documented what we’ve been up to and (most of all) bought something from us over the three months we were open.

HUGE thanks to everyone at Bullring – especially Louise, Rachel, Emma and Holly – who’ve supported us more than anyone could reasonably expect.

And, above all, thanks to Pete for everything he’s managed to accomplish over the past few months.

We’re taking a break for a bit now. Pete’s going to be looking at how to build on what we’ve done over the past 12 weeks (with me helping in the background), so watch this space.

In the meantime, thanks again to everyone who played a part in something that turned out to be even better than we hoped. There’s a bit of a get-together/send-off on Saturday 29 May if you’re about.

The nice folk from I Am Birmingham came down and filmed us over the weekend. Here’s the video, with contributions from Matt Murtagh and myself:

What nice, polite boys.

• The Created in Birmingham Bullring shop will cease trading on Sunday May 23rd.
• The market stalls at the front will continue until Saturday 29th.
• Volunteers needed to empty the shop.
• We will have a closing party of some sort on Saturday 29th.
• We’ll take a couple of months off over the summer to regroup and then maybe re-open in the Autumn.

The Details

The CiB Shop has, it seems, been a rather successful thing. So far we’ve sold about £30,000 worth of art by local people of which £22,500 has gone into their pockets.

The shop started as a fun idea but very quickly turned into something more serious and complex. It’d become apparent that this has the potential to be a viable business and and important service for the city.

We’ve let the shop evolve, reacting to what people give us to sell and what people buy, which was a good thing. But in doing so the systems we put in place to run the shop have struggled to cope with the increased volume.

On the whole we’ve been playing catchup with a shop that has taken on a life of its own. This is exciting and wonderful to watch unfold but it’s also exhausting and not sustainable in the long term.

Our current shop unit in the Bullring will be going to a paying tenant soon so we have to move out. This was always part of the deal and we’re grateful we were able to have such a fantastic spot for three months, so please don’t blame Bullring for the shop ending. Their support, not to mention incredibly hands-off approach letting us do pretty much whatever we wanted, has been invaluable.

Once we’re closed and out of the Bullring we’re going to take a few months to relax, reflect and regroup. It’s clear there’s a need for a shop in the city centre run on the CiB model, but it’s also clear it can’t be run in the way we’ve been running it. We need to figure out a long term strategy and we need some time and space to do that. Many many people have offered help and advice but we haven’t been able to act on any of it because of the shop itself. (Hell, in order to write this I’ve had to hide upstairs at the back of the stock room.)

If, and only if, we can learn from this experience and figure out a plan that prevents insanity, we’ll open another Created in Birmingham shop somewhere in the city centre in the autumn.

The next few weeks

We will continue trading as normal until Sunday May 23rd. If you’re already supplying us with stuff you’re welcome to restock for those two weeks. If you’re not then I’m sorry but we can’t take anything else. And if you’ve emailed in the last couple of weeks I’m doubly sorry I haven’t been able to get back to you. Our inability to keep on top of emails is one of the main reasons for closing for the summer.

On Monday 24th we will block off 3/4 of the shop leaving the front open for market stalls. These will be trading from Monday through Saturday 29th. Details on how to rent those stalls will follow soon.

In the rear of the shop we’ll be doing a stocktake of everything. For this we will need volunteers! Yes, I’ve finally got something for all those who want to help out to do. If you’d like to help please email createdinbirmingham@gmail.com with ‘Volunteer’ in the subject so we know you’re coming and turn up at the shop on Monday 24th from 11am.

During that week artists need to pick up any unsold work and cash for sold work. We’ll be contacting the artists with more information but I’m hoping we’ll be able to start this process by Tuesday.

And then, on Saturday 29th, we’ll have a little party. Probably starting in the shop and then moving elsewhere.

That’s everything I think. Any questions?

The Story Exchange is the visually enchanting invention of Birmingham-based Needle & Thread Theatre, and will be captivating story-lovers, story-tellers, and strays over four days in the Created in Birmingham shop at Bullring from Thursday 13 May until 16 May.

Here’s the blurb (pun intended) for you:

You are invited to browse, peruse and explore the leafy pages of the sumptuous second-hand books. Once you’ve found a treasure to take away we won’t require your pounds or pennies as payment, all we ask in return is a story of your own – fairy-tales; folk-tales; fond memories and funny stories from everyday life are all welcome.

Artistic director Natalie Wilson can be contacted for more info at needleandthreadtheatre@yahoo.co.uk or on 07530 939 380.

More fun happening in the shop on Saturday. Cue blurb:

INKwell are graphic designer Rik “THE FOX’ Cooper and screen printer Dave ‘GIGANTE’ Springer. We have 5 brand new designs we will be showcasing at the Created In Birmingham store on 17th April. We are also giving you the opportunity to come down and print your own garment. We will be selling t-shirts or you can bring your own garment as we can print onto pretty much anything, hoodies, jeans, bags, pillowcases etc.

Just come down and have a go, it’s informal, fun and free.

Saturday 17th April
11am – 5pm