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Unique Bridal Shop Business For Sale
Wellington, New Zealand
Exclusive Bridal and Evening Wear Designing and creating fabulous wedding gowns for New Zealand Brides has been an absorbing passion for most of Yvonne Lockyer's working life. Over the years, this creative designer has won a string of awards for her wedding gowns including Bridal Gown of the Year for New Zealand 1996. Yvonne designs, sews and hand-beads individual gowns for her clients to keep. She is an exceptionally skilled seamstress, and only uses the best of fabrics, trims and accessories. She also makes, and offers for hire, a designer range of Bridal gowns, matching gowns for Bridesmaids, Flower girl dresses and formal Ball gowns. Because of her modern designs and the detailed workmanship that she puts into her hire range, the gowns can be worn time and again and are ideal for hireage. These gowns can be hired from her boutique shop, Chez Elle, in Upper Hutt. While many are worn for New Zealand weddings, a good number are taken off-shore to weddings in Australia and the Pacific Islands. Off-shore weddings extend the New Zealand wedding season, making the hire business a year-round enterprise. Yvonne has woven two other exclusive ventures into her business that complement the Bridal Gown hireage - Fantasy Fairy Parties for children and Victoriana retail lines for people of all ages. Now, after 32 years, Yvonne wishes to retire from her hectic career and has put her business on to the market. Chez Elle is an exciting business with income streams from wedding gown making and hireage, children's Fantasy Fairy Parties and retail sales of Victoriana. At present, it is organised as a sole trader business and operated by the owner with much dedication and passion. It has considerable potential to be developed into a much larger business, especially the children's Fantasy Fairy Party aspect. Chez Elle would ideally suit a woman owner with staff, or a mother-daughter operation, who can bring people skills and empathy for brides and bridal parties. While it presently trades from Upper Hutt, this business could be easily re-located anywhere in New Zealand. Wedding Gowns, Bridesmaid's Gowns and Accessories Chez Elle wedding hire business comprises: - Wedding gowns - more than 50 designer gowns in popular sizes and styles
- Bridesmaids gowns to match wedding gowns - sets of up to four of the same style
- Veils and headpiece accessories, flower girl dresses
- Men's waist coats, men's shirts
- Gowns for school Formal Balls
All of the hire gowns and hire clothing are unique designs to Chez Elle and they offer brides that "extra factor" for their wedding day. Each gown is hand-made by Yvonne to withstand multiple hiring and all can be hand-washed or dry- cleaned. The hire wedding gowns are valued between $2000 and $5000 each and are hired-out at $500 to $900 per occasion (including gown cleaning on return). There is scope for the new owner to increase hireage charges. In addition, the business sells a range of veils, headpieces, ring cushions, garters, bridal accessories, jewellery, and parasols. Yvonne will provide the new owner with contacts to source fabrics, jewellery, trims, Victoriana and more. Children's Fantasy Fairy Parties Every small girl loves to dress up in lovely clothes and to be a fairy is especially important. Yvonne has designed and created a whole collection of fabulous fairy costumes for children aged 4 to 14 years. Children come on Saturdays to be dressed and to visit the Fairy Dell and the Fairy (a staff employee). Children play games, have food and drink and receive wands and presents. Up to 10 children can be accommodated at one time. 
Children's Fantasy Fairy Parties are incredibly popular and a lot of mothers even want to join in and relive their own childhood. Girls who were dressed for their wedding by Yvonne many years ago now bring their children, and as grandmothers bring their grandchildren. And the children want to come back time and again to visit the Fairy. At present, Children's Fantasy Fairy Parties are held only on Saturday (4 parties per week). Parties are not promoted at all, other than through word of mouth recommendations. There is scope to greatly expand this part of the business: - increase the fees from the present $18.50 per child to $20 each
- alter business hours to allow for after-school parties (more parties per week)
- develop the concept as a Franchise network based around Yvonne's fantasy costumes and proven party operation
Victoriana and Retail Lines Chez Elle retails several lines of Victoriana that complement the shop décor, wedding theme, and fantasy parties: - Prams - decorative items in assorted sizes
- Dolls - mainly dolls from Hill View Lane and some from Jan McLean
- Teddy bears - only limited-edition Gosfield Bears
- Ceramic fairies - collector items
- Gilded figures and cherubs
- Designer Cushions - period-style cushions hand-made by Yvonne
The Victoriana items sold by Chez Elle invite the "hopelessly romantic" to recapture the romance of an era gone by. The range also includes an amazing selection of cushions from Yvonne's original designs. 
Yvonne will provide the new owner with contacts to source dolls, Teddy bears, fairies, cherubs, Victoriana and more. Yvonne is also prepared to supply her range of Designer Cushions to the new owner. Leasehold premises in Upper Hutt Chez Elle leases retail and workroom premises at 13 Main Street, Upper Hutt. The business is ideally located at the south end of Upper Hutt's commercial business district with ample (free) customer car parking. 
The leasehold building is divided in to front retail shop (about 70 square metres) and rear work room (about 49 square metres). Other rooms include the fitting area (about 12 square metres) that is divided to form two cubicles, the Fairy Dell (about 14 square metres), kitchen with wash-up sink and bench, cupboards and shelving, stock storage area with access to rear car parking (3 spaces), and men's and woman's toilets. The premises has good window and door security. The present arrangement is for a monthly rental but a new lease is available to the new owner, by a committed landlord. The present arrangement also allows the new owner to relocate Chez Elle without leasehold complications. Lessee fittings and chattels being sold by Chez Elle A complete list of all fittings and chattels is available to interested buyers. Main items include: - Retail area floor coverings, light fittings, chandeliers, door-chime
- Lace ceiling drapes, shop-front curtains, wall drapes, some wall decorations
- Show room furniture (some), glass display cabinet / counter, occasional chairs
- Racks for gowns, mannequins (3), mirrors, shelving, "antique" cash register
- Fairy Dell table, toadstool seating, lighting and decorations
- Work room cutting table and shelving, industrial sewing machine
- Fitting room curtain partitions and track, large mirrors (7)
- Phone, fax machine, verandah signage
The business sale includes most of the lessee fittings and chattels on display, more than sufficient to set up Chez Elle at any location. Some furniture and mirrors are the personal property of the owner and may be available by negotiation. Day to day management at Chez Elle
Business Hours:
Tuesday to Saturday - 10.00 am to 5.30 pm.
Evening appointments can be arranged for Bridal fittings. Staff:
Chez Elle is operated by the owner with assistance of one casual employee (Saturday Fairy). Stock:
Stock will comprise bridal accessories and Victoriana prams, dolls, teddy bears, cushions and figurines on retail display and will total about $50,000, depending on the season. Awards:
Wedding Gown of the Year for New Zealand 1996.
1995 Top Shop - Lower Hutt.
Numerous Awards for Bride of the Year and Gown of the Year. Customer Records:
A file of past Fairy Parties is available. Many participants come back time after time. Suppliers:
A complete list of all suppliers will be provided with the business sale, along with all relevant catalogues, bridal magazines and price lists. Advertising and Promotion:
Little to no advertising is done other than signage on the building and shop windows, a listing in Telecom Yellow Pages, listings in www.weddings.co.nz, http://www.nzweddingplanner.co.nz, http://weddingheaven.co.nz and occasional advertisements in the Weddings and Special Occasions Guide (Levin to Wellington & Hutt Valley). Call Yvonne on +64 4 527 8293 for an appointment to view About Upper Hutt and Wellington
Upper Hutt is a city of 36,660 just 25 minutes' drive or a 40-minute scenic train ride north from Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Upper Hutt is set amongst bush-clad hills and bisected by the Hutt River with easy access to lots of recreational pursuits including quiet native forest and riverside walks, brown trout fishing, hunting, tramping and mountain biking. The city is the home of the internationally-recognised Wellington Golf Club at Heretaunga and the Wellington Racing Club at Trentham. Upper Hutt also has many parks and recreation areas like the Maidstone Max and H2O Xtream. Wellington, at the bottom of the North Island, is New Zealand's capital city with Parliament Buildings, Corporate and Government offices, Embassies and Consulates. This is a vibrant and energetic city with close packed high-rises in the CBD and traditional wooden bungalows in the suburbs. Extending just two kilometres in diameter, central Wellington with its stunning scenery is a truly ‘walking city’. It is famous for cafes, restaurants and nightlife. And for its culture - the Michael Fowler Centre, the Town Hall, the restored Embassy Theatre and the Te Papa National Museum.
The whole Wellington region has the highest per capita spending in New Zealand.
To find out more about Upper Hutt and Wellington, click on: http://www.upperhuttcity.com
http://www.upperhutt.school.nz
http://www.huttcity.info/
http://www.wellington.govt.nz/
http://www.wcn.net.nz/
http://www.wellingtonnz.com
http://www.bondstore.co.nz
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz
http://www.parliament.nz/
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