With baracuta ( the company) on the up - and considering what John Simons did to raise the profile of the company way back when - would there be any assistance forthcoming in that direction?

I wouldnt count on Baracuta or Ben Sherman pitching in one bloody pound towards saving the shop

Terrible news.  I'll be sure to buy SOMETHING from him when I'm back around xmas, even if it doesnt fit me quite right

Last edited by David (2008-02-25 09:00:31)

This is terrible indeed.  I made my first pilgrimage to the Squire Shop in Brewer Street in 1969.  I frequented the Ivy Shop and later Village Gate shops.

Today I just happen to be wearing a Giorgio Armani tie that I got from J Simons last year for £29!

All I can offer is sympathy at the moment but I shall make a trip up to JS in the next week or so and at least pick up a few pieces.....

I don't know.

Mr. Simons is an East End boy - a real Londoner.

After Richmond, Soho, Chelsea, Windsor, Covent Garden, a return to a less expensive location might feel wrong to him.

He's a guy who's built up his own business based on not much else other than his own enthusiasm. A real self-made man.

At the end of a working life it might feel hard for him to downscale?

I don't know.

J.

Is there any mileage in approaching the J Press backers? I'm not sure what his profile is like in Japan but it could be worth a try. The ideal backer would be an existing customer who has enough money not to care, the Eric Clapton solution.

From a London Face:

"Someone should get in touch with Clapton, remind him of the crop, Harrington, Levis and desert boot college boy look of his Yardbird days. Cordings indeed - pah! Famous, presumably rich people who've been JS regulars over the years -

Alfred Molina
Jill Gasgoine
Sade
Robert Elms
Paul Weller
Paul Smith
John Cooper Clarke
Jon Moss
A few faces off of The Bill !
Jess Birdsall
David Rosen
David Gilmour
loads of architects
loads of lawyers
loads of advertising/media types
a few Lords and MPs

I've forgotten loads... we need their dosh!

Keep the faith,"

J.

Amen brother.

It's all about enlightenment. Aesthetic adventure and the cut of the cloth are hand in hand.

Being one of those who ventures into JS but doesn't 'chat', I wasn't aware of the issue but it has a sense of inevitability about it, given how many other great individual enterprises have bit the dust over the past few years. Ray's of course is still there in Foyle's but the VIBE has gone and that's so important. So many record shops I used to mooch about in have gone and it's sad really.

Re: Richmond, has JS thought of a move back to the suburbs, I mean a nice suburb like Hampstead? Rents are still probably too high I know and I suspect John has got his pride, but it still would probably be cheaper than the Garden.

I don't know John so it's hard to tell for me. From the website it sounds like he does want to carry on and there is that old East End thing, you know, moving 'up west' being a sign of 'making it'. So moving back sometimes has significance for some. But that's presumption on my part. He may not mind that much.

I suppose it will all depend on how much he wants to continue really. Perhaps mail order is the only way but that's not the shop, the vibe, the punter. The specialness.

You are totally on the money about his quiet significance. The more you contemplate his connections, his radicalness, the more ludicrously crucial he becomes.

If he does decide to put up his chukkas we should all celebrate him in some way.

^ All good names. I found Mose through Pete, but that's just my story from the 70's.

I'd never have found Troy without some help from Russell Street tho'.