Our Picture of the Week is a sad one, showing the early morning closure yesterday of a Countrywide brand, Taylors, in St Ives, Cambridgeshire.
It was snapped at around 6.30am by another agent who was on his way to work close by.
It is understood that the branch listings have been moved to the Huntingdon branch.
You may have seen something similar on a high street near you.
Merry Xmas!
I have been shown the ‘message from Alison Platt’ that tried to put positive spin on the closures that are happening in Countrywide. Most disturbing was the picture of Mrs Platt laughing atop the correspondence. It demonstrates yet again the lack of judgment that this ‘leader’ continues with. Whoever the PR genius is who thought this was a good idea, I suggest you have a think about whether PR is the correct profession for you.
I do not know where this office is however, it would be interesting and informative to know if all displaced staff are still employment with the company somewhere else. At the very least, that would show some consideration of the employees?
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Same story in Petersfield, Hampshire. Gascoigne-Pees closed last Friday!
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The sign says it all…probably been there since 1996…last time they rebranded. Countrywide should have nurtured the 1000’s of kids who left them and set up on their own…these same kids have been running circles around them for years.
Internet agency is killing more jobs in local areas and Rightmove are helping them do it….bless our blind govt. who do nothing to protect us.
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Quite a few of them and not one of them on the original list of circa 60 offices announced to go.
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It’s December…..what’s the competitor doing heading in at 0630 for! Time management training required methinks!
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Maybe he words for purpleshits,,they sell houses at 4 in the morning
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works..
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I know there has been further structure and role changes in the northern end of the CW business. Following substantial changes earlier this year. Regional managers moved to new roles roles called regional performance director. However the roles were not advertised and appointments appear to have just been made, with perhaps some redundancies. one of the new appointments was only appointed from a lister role some months ago, obviously highly skilled now at performance management! I understand further branch collusures are to be announced, perhaps they are waiting until Xmas eve. The shambles continues and CEO must be dusting off the CV!
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Not sure if already been printed but a strong rumour going round the 120 regional managers they have are being cut by 80 to just 40.
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To be fair the branch in the photo (which is in the next town to me) actually closed last week with a notice in the window saying that they were closed for “technical reasons”. The staff were maintaining, right up until yesterday, that it was only a temporary closure. Either they’ve been lied to or they were ‘playing the game’.
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Countrywide staff being economical with the truth, I won’t believe it! 🙂
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Another rumor is staff have been asked to sign an NDA.
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No Deflamatory Acumen then!!
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So they make them redundant just before Christmas then make them sign a NDA as well? They’re all heart at Countrywide, aren’t they?
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Economical with the truth = Could almost be an OTM director or agent!!!
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1stTimeBuyer,
I am just interested in what you have against OTM when you presumably are not an agent?
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‘1stTimeBuyer’ has previously declared an interest in Zoopla.
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Perhaps CW are just not adapting to market forces.
For dinosaurs it was an asteroid for CW maybe their asteroid is the hybrid model ?
Sorry for the chaps at CW must be a tough time for them, however they are not the only large multi branch business facing closures this Xmas, there are many others happening too !
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Abbotts in Newmarket has also ‘bitten the dust’. Once a very successful office for Black Horse Agencies/Bradford & Bingley and the second Abbotts office to go close to Cambridge following the Haverhill office earlier this year. Countrywide were the owners of three brands in Cambridge, now down to two. You have to wonder which goes next.
I’d be concerned if I worked in the Abbotts branch as TuckerGardener is the better brand there even if it has been hobbled since Countrywide acquired it and the best staff moved on and set up on their own.
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personally I think she is ahead of the curve…….
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They’ve shut 3 around here that I haven’t seen on their list. CHK in Cobham, Surrey they shut within less than a year of acquiring. APW in Sunninghill and APW Esher, leading independent agents bought for very high sums and shut within 2 years of acquiring them. All 3 were long established and respected. What a shambles.
There must be many more examples like this out there.
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Just had it confirmed, 2 more branches of Countrywide near us have closed today. Merry Christmas!
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What Countrywide are doing is ill timed to say the least. Which does make you quuestion some ethics.
But…
With the little knowledge of the company I have and some of the comments here. You can see what they are doing and frankly if it works could be a scary model, for the independent agents.
In the last 2-3 years we all saw Countrywide buying up 1,2,3,4 offices across England, in doing so picking up some local success stories and local legends/heroes (insert your own mass noun), in the process I cannot imagine they sat back counting their Gold, laughing as they are seeming saturating their own markets to us lowly on lookers.
I have spoken to people in our area, that have dealt with the likes of CW for years and they hate their call centers and endless maze of automated phone messages. So…. is this not technically running like a hybrid anyway? But with high street office filled with agents scrapping for a coin like the rest of us.
Retaining/inceasing the management properties from the acquired agencies original stock and now dropping overheads such as staff, multiple offices in close proximity and any other “dead weight”, in an effort to become a hybrid power house.
Does this make business sense or business suicide?
Could it be a story of the ugly duckling we all knew at school that you bump in to years later, that has turned in to a knock-out?
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Err no plain and simple mismanagement.
Share price crashed through the floor.
Closure of branches.
Loss of experienced directors / managers
Loss of market share
Selling off shares in well performing companies.
CEO with a vision that does not befit the market.
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Whilst heavy criticism always comes the way of Countrywide, it’s definitely been the case that agency fees have been tumbling in recent years. During my time at countrywide they had the usual corporate competitors as well as the franchises and the independents. The arrival of the online agents has always been floating about in the background and we can agree only in the last year or two has it been really noticeable.
The high street agent in will always be a necessity, making some of these closures a bit hasty. There are countrywide offices that have been shut that have previously been gold mines and require an investment in time and training – and if I am going to make a criticism, that’s where countrywide have not been putting their time and money.
Whilst the ‘old boys club’ has been removed from the Countrywide Hierarchy and with them the legacy of the high street brand, what is left is still an aggressive agent offering the largest network of applicants, unrivalled online marketing and still the most prominent offices in the towns whilst other corporate operators settle for side street locations.
Alison Platt isn’t on my Christmas card list this year, but the acquisitions under her tenure have been much more savvy than the poorly performing offices that she has decided to close – and lest ye forget that when the market crashes – and it will, by the way. Who wants offices that are barely scraping by in this market?
if I was an independent or a franchise agent right now, I’d be purple bricking it.
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