It’s business as usual, insists owner of Croydon’s ‘under threat’ furniture store Reeves
By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter
The owner of iconic Croydon furniture shop House of Reeves has assured residents it will remain open over Christmas, even though the site has been put up for sale.
The shop’s site is listed to be auctioned off for at least £2million this week while the empty land where the shop once stood is auctioned for £1million.
The sale would include a empty patch of land where the former shop, which was burnt down in the 2011 London riots, stood. But owner Graham Reeves said he was sceptical the auction will take place at all.
He said the House of Reeves shop over the road from the vacant site will continue to trade as normal.
The 14,000 square acre plot is up for sale with Barney Estates. The listing reads: “The site spans approximately 14,000sqft and offers a wide variety of redevelopment possibilities, subject to the relevant planning consents.
“The existing tenants will remain in situ for up to six months after completion – business rates will continue to be paid.”
Barney Estates calls the empty plot of land on the other side of the road, ‘The Icon’ and a CGI shows a huge glass tower here.
It reads: “CGIs used in this marketing are for visualisation purposes. The CGI displayed is of a 100m height tower, neighbouring buildings within the vicinity exceed heights of 150 meters.”
This empty land has been listed for £1million while the current shop site is listed for £2 million. It said the two plots will go to auction on December 1.
But Mr Reeves is sceptical the auction will go ahead and said he would be there selling furniture as usual.
He added: “Myself and my brother will be here doing the Christmas sales, January and February sales. We are carrying on trading like normal. At the moment, that auction sale isn’t going to go ahead.”
House of Reeves was opened more than 150 years ago and has been in the Reeves family for five generations since 1867. It has been run by Graham and his brother for nearly 30 years.
Pictured top: House of Reeves, Reeves Corner, Croydon. (Picture: Google Street View)
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