Why did you leave Historic Smithville Village...?

Greetings from the British Connection shop in downtown Absecon New Jersey!!


The most frequent question we have heard since moving our shop to Absecon is, "why did you leave Historic Smithville Village?". While most people assume it is one big reason...in reality it was several little reasons. Let me go on the record here to put the rumour mill to rest once and for all.





1. The hours. Most visitors to Smithville have no idea that the hours are dictated to the shops by the owners of Smithville Village and can change with whimsy...it is in our lease. We were also meant to be open every day except Christmas.





2. The rent. We had the British Connection shop in Smithville for 7 years, and in that time our rent was raised by 40%. It was due to go up another 30% this year. Our shop was for the most part a British grocery store...it is difficult to absorb such increases without dramatic prices increases.





3. The cold. Our building was one of the few original buildings. Although the only original building in that village is the Smihville Inn, our shop was a historic old building brought from Cape May Court House, thus there was hardly any insulation. Winters were really terribly cold.





4. The nature of our business. We strive to keep our prices affordable, but imports by nature are expensive. With the increases in our overhead, it was becoming more and more difficult keeping prices reasonable.





5. Some of the other shop owners were drama queens and tried to make everyones life miserable. That's all I'll say about that.





6. Creative Freedom. Moving out of Smithville and therefore being free from the restrictions that come from being part of a village allows us the creative freedom to grow and change...and isn't that what makes life interesting?





7. When I asked our customers if they would follow us to Absecon, most were happy not to have to go "all the way out to Smithville". Some were bummed that we would no longer be part of their "tradition" at Smithville, but were happy we were not going too far away.





Well, there it is in a nutshell. These reasons and a few others are why we flew the coup.


Thanks to all who have come out to Absecon, and for those who have not, we hope to see you soon !!


Please sign up for our preferred customer list by going to http://www.yourbritishconnection.com/





All the Best!


Barbara and Dave