Great Grooms have pledged to take a 1500 square feet space at the Kings Road emporium and expect to be up and running within three months.
Speaking last week, James Podger, owner of the two Great Grooms stores in Hungerford and Dorking, told ATG his new London venture would be “a shop within a shop” with its own doors and qualified staff
Mr Podger said he expected the space to accommodate around 60 cases of small antiques plus pictures, chandeliers, a limited furniture presence and plasma screens to promote the stock available for purchases at sister centres.
The enterprise will operate in partnership with dealer Harper Dearden who (while maintaining a presence in The Furniture Cave) has sublet much of his space for the project.
It was more than a decade ago that Mr Podger saw a future in the trade for smart, well-run centres featuring good dealers with quality stock. The first Great Grooms Antiques Centre was situated at Parbrook, Billingshurst but was forced to close in 2002 due to the loss of trade following the opening of a bypass.
Great Grooms in London
The Great Grooms brand of upmarket antiques centres is to move to London’s Furniture Cave.
