Less than a century ago, Dubai was a small fishing village, a place roamed by Bedouin tribes and settlers who crowded around the banks of the creek. Today, Dubai is an extremely popular tourists destination and an important global economic player. If we take into account the fact that when Europe was being faced with the industrial destruction brought about by World War I Dubai didn’t even have running water, the dramatic changes that this emirate has experienced are all the more surprising. Dubai attracts tourists and expatriates alike, and ever since oil was struck in the 1960s, the city has made a spectacular breakthrough. The economy is high propelled by tourism, but also by expatriates coming to work in Dubai. What strikes about the city is its cosmopolitan nature, which prevents any ethnic tensions from developing. Only about twenty per cent of Dubai’s population is ethnically Emirati, and this diversity has turned Dubai into one of the world’s most cosmopolitan regions.

One thing is for sure: they definitely knew how to handle and channel the oil wealth, and this shows with the order and structure of the city. The dramatic evolution from the small fishing village to the gleaming office buildings and sweeping skyscrapers, which occurred in less than one hundred years, seems to be only the beginning. Grand projects are ahead for Dubai, including the building of three hundred islands in the shape of the countries of the world, altering the course of the Creek and widening it, building the world’s tallest tower and a new airport, or building the largest shopping mall in the whole Middle East.

In spite of the regional instability and the rise of the Al-Qaeda, which represents a threat for Dubai tourism, the number of tourists who choose to spend their holidays in this city is increasing by the year. And after all, this comes as no surprise, given the idyllic climate in Dubai, with typically no more than five days of rainfall a year.

There are many tourist attractions in Dubai, and shopping is certainly one of them. In fact, this city can easily be referred to as the shopping capital of the Middle East. Dubai shopping is possible in a wide range of malls and souks. ‘Souk’, the Arabic word for market, refers to a place, which is usually specialized on certain products, and where you are expected to barter when shopping.

Dubai shopping is a major attraction for tourists, and investors made sure that the consumers every need would be catered to. There are so many shopping malls in Dubai that even seeing all of them would take a very long time, much less doing some actual shopping in each of them. Most Dubai shopping centers are open form 10 am to at least 10 pm, except fro Fridays, when they are not open in the morning and early afternoon. Dubai shopping is probably most attractive for the rare opportunity it provides, namely that of purchasing top brand products cheaper than anywhere else, due to its duty free laws and low import taxes.

At this point, all you have to do is book a flight to Dubai, and a room in a hotel, or rent an apartment, and once you’re there, you can shop all you like, or all you can afford. The good news is that all these reservations can be made online, so you a virtually a few clicks away from Dubai shopping. Can this get any better?

As amazing as shopping in Dubai may be, this is far from being the only reason why tourists choose to travel to this emirate. The exquisite hotels and restaurants, the fabulous weather, the relaxed financial environment, these are just some of Dubai’s attractions. As true as it may be that the further developments in the Middle East are likely to influence Dubai’s economic situation and tourist industry, one thing’s for sure: the city is certainly on the rise for now, and it represents a destination that you should not miss, at least once in a lifetime. If leaving your continent seems like too much of an adventure, and the different religion and culture seem a little scary, you can rest assured. Almost everyone speaks English there, and all the information you need about the emirate can easily be found online, including hotels, restaurants, clubs and pubs, and flights to Dubai.

Finding a cheap flight to Dubai and discount for accommodation is now possible if you search the Internet and make the most of what travel agencies have to offer. Be it charter flight, economy class, or first class, you can book a flight to Dubai online, and all you have to do is get on board and prepare for an amazing experience, which will certainly determine you to go there again.

For more resources about Dubai shopping or even about flight to Dubai please review this weblink http://www.dubai.com.au



Sell and Rent Back

The data offered by Colliers International Company are a strong confirmation to this fact: enterprises working in retail trade in January-May 2006 had 33,9 billion UAH of retail turnover, which is 27% more than their January-May 2005 turnover.

As the economics develops and retail trade capacities go up, one can notice gradual displacement in sales areas general structure – from markets to more civilized forms. Retail trade market – on behalf of customers as well as of retail operators – sets up constantly growing demands for a place where the actual process of buying occurs. According to the data of GfK-USM Company, supermarkets’ share in the everyday expenses for convenience goods in Ukraine went up from 21% in 2000 to 37% in 2005.

Development of every sector is inseparably linked with the economical situation in the country, and real estate is no exception. This dependency is of direct and simple character – economics development level is the main factor which determines the size of people’s solvent demand, which in its turn settles the size of retail trade, the main demand bearer for real estate in most countries. If we follow people’s revenue and expense dynamics and connect it with retail trade dynamics, we will come to a conclusion that these parameters are strongly correlated.

Strong demand for real estate has been observed for several years in every Ukrainian city with no exception. Presently, supply of trading areas, especially of those corresponding to high quality standards, is unable to satisfy the demand for them.

The reasons for this deficiency lie in the insufficient number of sales areas, lengthy land allotment procedures and constant postponements in terms of commissioning of shopping centers. Today it makes up only 70 square meters of such housing per 1000 Ukrainians, while this index is several times higher in the European countries. For example, in Poland, when the market turned to the stage of saturation in 2000-2001, this index was 277 square meters per 1000 people.

As before, downtown shopping centers find the largest market among the tenantry, though the centers situated in dormitory areas or in the outskirts gradually become of interest as well.

Speaking about the widespread formats of the shopping centers, it is necessary to mention that in Ukraine of today there doesn’t exist any strong classification of shopping centers, which is the reason of using Western analogues for analysis. In world-wide practice there exist several classifications of shopping centers; in such classifications all the formats are corresponding to certain criteria: size, target market, premises configuration, tenantry, etc. The shopping center’s zone of influence (microdistrict, district, regional centers) is also one of the classification criteria. Another classification is based upon determination of the anchor tenantry (specialized shopping center, festival shopping center, power-center, fashion shopping center, shopping and leisure center, public shopping center, etc). While working out shopping/shopping and leisure center conceptions, the authors often turn to the universally accepted classification of Urban Land Institute (the USA). Presently, however, Ukrainian shopping centers are of great variety, and it is almost impossible to relate them to some strict generally accepted formats; the reason for this is that the Ukrainian market is still rather young.

In Ukraine, the most widespread shopping center format is the one which has a supermarket as “the anchor”; a supermarket which in addition to low prices offers its customers a great range of high-quality goods, as well as the possibility to buy everything necessary at the same time at the same place. Such anchor tenants serve as a bait for the customers. The anchors’ distinguishing features are large size of the occupied area (more than 1000 square meters), long-termed lease contract (up to 10 years), as well as substantial capital investments in trading equipment and sales technologies. The anchors’ main function is to generate flows of visitors (for themselves as well as for other tenants) and to direct them to the certain areas of the shopping center. According to the world experience, the most effective disposition of the anchor tenants is considered to be in the places remote as much as possible from the incoming groups, for example at the floors which make the customers go up or down.

In Ukraine, anchor tenantry is usually represented by such commodity groups as foodstuffs, building materials, furniture, office equipment, IT, domestic appliances, clothes, footwear, goods for children, cosmetics, perfumery, accessories and presents.

The tendency of growth of the population solvent demand affected positively the dynamics of regional shopping centers development as well. Despite the fact that regional real estate markets fall behind the Kyiv market for about four years, on the whole in Ukraine there are about 60 large shopping centers with more than 600 000 square meters of total area. The majority of regional shopping centers are actually reconstructed emporiums and self-service stores. Correspondingly, most of them can’t pass for professional shopping centers as for their architecture, conception and area. Lately, however, there have appeared some really professional regional objects as “Evropa” and “Srednefontanskaya Shopping Center” in Odessa, Shopping and leisure centers “Daffy”, “Most” and “Evropa-center” in Dnipropetrovsk, “Caravan” in Kharkiv, shopping and leisure center “Donetsk-City-Center”, “Metro” in Lviv, Odessa, Kyiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Krivy Rig, Kharkiv, Lugansk, etc.

The rent rate in regional centers doesn’t differ greatly from that in Kyiv, as construction costs are about the same everywhere and come to $700-1000 per 1 square meter. The average rent in regional shopping centers is about $20-100 per 1 square meter a month. The average basic rent growth came to 10% in the first six months of 2006, comparing to December 2005. In areas of keen demand for certain objects the prices growth made up 15%. The main reason for this growth is, as before, the limited supply of high-quality sales areas in shopping centers, as well as in the most popular trading corridors. The rent rate may differ according to the location of a shopping center, the company’s profile, the size of the tenement. The highest rent is paid by the present-accessories commodity group operators ($60-65 in 2004, $90-100 in 2005), while the lowest rent is fixed for the anchor tenants of leisure sector and supermarkets ($12-13 in 2004, $20-21 in 2005). As a result, in its rent rates Kyiv has long ago left behind such capitals of the Eastern Europe as Warsaw, Budapest and Prague.

However, it is strange that increasing the rent rate of real estate projects doesn’t result in reduction of their payback period; on the contrary – we presently can observe a tendency of its growth. Comparing to the “first wave” shopping centers which were recompensated in two or three years, today the payback period is claimed by the experts as five-eight years. This fact is a natural after-effect to the market development – here come new shopping center formats, where the stores are represented not only by domestic operators, but by international retail operators as well. In the environment of constantly growing competition shopping center project designers have to keep to more expensive quality parameters. As a result, sizes of shopping center investments are constantly growing (up to $600-800 per 1 square meter in 2006), involving mostly decoration, infrastructure and bringing in entertainment services operators as anchor tenants. Entertainment complexes in shopping centers permit not only to create necessary conditions for a customer’s leisure (which widens a trading object’s range of services), but also effectively generate extra customer flows for the rest of the shopping center tenants. Lately we may have observed tendencies demonstrating that a shopping center which cares for its own success has to provide not only supermarkets and fast-food restaurants, but also billiards clubs, cinemas, nurseries, a skating rink, etc. Owners of shopping centers invite show business and leisure operators on beneficial terms. Their rent rate is determined individually and is usually lower than the average one. Preferential rent terms and growth of demand for leisure sector companies’ services stimulate noticeably their development. In 2005 the number of such operators as anchor tenants increased for 30-50%.

The Ukrainian market is undoubtedly becoming more and more attractive for international operators; it is supported by the fact that throughout 2005 and 2006 Ukraine has been firmly holding top positions in the rating of the most promising retail markets made up by A.T. Kearney GRDI (Global Retail Development Index) Company. In 2003 Ukraine took up the 11th place, in 2004 – the 3rd, in 200 – the 4th. At the beginning of 2006 Ukraine held the 4th place in this rating, yielding the palm to India, Vietnam and Russia. In view of this, the foreign companies’ activity at buying of already operating shopping centers has remarkably increased. It may be illustrated by the fact that in October 2006 93% of shares of the shopping and leisure center “Ukraine” were sold to the Irish Quinn Group company. Heretofore the center was owned by the American company NCH Advisors Inc. Also, in the first half year of 2006 the London investment company 1849 PLC, together with one of the largest international investment companies Apollo Real Estate Advisors (the USA), bought the Kyiv shopping center “Pyramida”, which had been the property of the Jordan company Arab Piramids.

In 2007-2008 we expect arrival and activation of such well-known international operators as IKEA, Auchan, Ramstore, Ava, OBI, Bata, Leroy Merlin, as well as active development of the Russian trading networks “The Sedmoy Continent”, “Pyaterochka”, “Perekryostok”, “Mosmart”, “Veymart”.



Rent Back

OK, I admit it. When traveling on the corporate card I couldn’t care less what color desk I wound up at. I just pulled out the card and handed it to the person behind the car rental counter that had the shortest line at the airport.

But when I started paying for my own travel, I came to my senses. Wow! Car rental really costs!

Each year millions of Americans take a business trip. For those businesses trips, many people may

need to rent a car. If you are planning a business trip there are a number of quality auto rental companies to choose from. But you don’t have to let them take you for everything you’ve got. Know what you need before you step up to the counter.

There are a lot of discounts for government and corporate travelers. These discounts are available from rental car agencies by filling out online business renter applications. To qualify, you may need to provide company name, tax number and number of qualifying employees. Many of these corporate discounts are convenient for companies of any size. Additionally, savings are available for the business traveler through collaboration with leading and discount airline carriers.

By renting from some companies, you can get frequent flier miles on many air carriers. In addition, many car rental companies also offer discounts to air passengers when they present en route tickets from participating airlines. These specials can save you $10, $15 or $20 on your car’s rental. As you may find out, there are some restrictions, perhaps including a minimum number of days rental, on some of these offers.

Airline employees, the military, AAA, AARP, and senior citizens also can get special rental rates. Other companies, such as Rent-A-Wreck, offer downloadable online coupons featuring substantial savings with reduced rates for characteristic cars, trucks or SUVs.

Another way to realize savings is by searching online for Internet specials. You can sometimes save significantly by booking in advance online. Some companies have weekly rates that will save you considerably when you book your rental on their web site. Frequent renters discounts also merit mentioning. With frequent renters discounts, the more you rent the more you save.

Another way the buyer can benefit from special online deals is though upgrades. This gives you the opportunity to enjoy a nicer or larger auto at the same price of the lesser car you reserved.

From discounts and coupons to companies that specialize in low rates, opportunities for great rates can be found with good old-fashioned comparison shopping.



Quick Property Sale

Finally—Rent Prom Dresses at Closet Elite !!

It is truly astonishing that no business has snatched up this idea before. For decades now, girls have been spending hundreds of dollars on a dress they know they’ll only wear once. Prom is one of those once-in-a-lifetime memories where every girl deserves to dress like a princess and look her best, but is stuck with the dilemma of how much she should spend on a dress she knows she won’t wear again. The solution for their dates has been easy—they rent a tux, return it, and barely dent their wallets. But for girls, prom has always been a big financial burden.

Now a company called Closet Elite (www.closetelite.com) rents prom dresses for around $50—even less than the rental price of a lot of tuxes. The entire store is online—like Netflix for dresses! Choose a dress, get is shipped to your door, and ship it back. They carry brand names, the latest styles, and a great variety. They even have insurance policies on the dresses so that you don’t have to be petrified of ruining your dress all night!

Not only is Closet Elite the first company to do prom dress rentals, but they actually rent cocktail and holiday dresses too. Basically any time you have a wedding, special event, or even a hot date, you can rent a designer dress. They carry latest-season dresses from designers like Versace, Betsey Johnson, Dolce and Gabbana, Chloe, Bebe and more. And at seriously affordable prices! You can’t afford not to check this out….Carrie Bradshaw would have a heart attack if she knew about this!

www.closetelite.com



Sell and Rent Back

Have you been finding advertising costs to sell a shop or office becoming too much? Has searching for available properties, shops or offices been difficult and confusing?  Search4premises is now here to make your life easier! 

 

Search4premises is a site designed especially for those who are looking to buy or place advertisements to sell shops, offices or any other properties and services in the UK. The site understands your need for quick data retrieval, up-to-date postings that can be viewed by the whole community of prospective buyers and, most importantly, low advertising costs.  Searching commercial properties and services at the site comes free of charge, so you can browse through our website and use the advanced search tool anytime you are looking for available shops, offices or other kinds of properties and services. This is one way to allow customers to visit the site freely and at anytime, and to accomplish the site’s goal of achieving around 5,000 hits per day. This means that an average of 5,000 business or property professionals could be seeing your posted advertisements everyday. Posting an advertisement to sell shops or to sell office spaces comes at a very minimal cost too, as low as £4 per whole week, with no commission or any extra charges.  Once logged in you will create your own account where only you can have the authorization to make changes or additions to your postings.

 

Search4premises can be a very helpful site for those who are seeking available commercial properties or businesses for sale.  Previously, searching for property could involve trawling through hundreds of different sites to find what you want – now it’s all on one site.  There is an easy to use search tool for your convenience. On the other hand, if you want to make searches by category, Search4premises is also able to provide classified listings where you can browse through sorted lists of commercial properties. This will save you a lot of time and maximize your efforts in finding the suitable property that you need.

 

Search4premises is a good place to post advertisements whether you are leasing, renting or selling a shop or office space. We are business to business based in the business community, which covers every type of property professionals. Posting your advertisements on our site is a sure way for them to be spotted and seen by a host of potential customers.

 

Search4premises is very flexible - it can display a full-profile advertisement with a photo of the premises and its full property particulars and details to create better impact on prospective buyers.  Alternatively, there is a Classifieds section where you can post categorised, text-only postings within the classified pages.  This section, as a registered user, is a very good place to post your specific needs for any commercial space or trade services or where you can let customers know about the service that you have to offer. All of this is available at a really low, low cost!



Quick Property Sale

Why most Americans rent movies today - how you can save money on movie rentals online. Rent movies online and save yourself time and money if renting on a monthly basis.

So how do you think most Americans entertain themselves these days? Some of the most celebrated weekend activities include shopping, going to the movies renting movies or having dinner with friends. When it comes to daily entertainment, many people enjoy their spare time and low cost of recreational choices like viewing television, playing video games, and renting movies online.

Why Rent Movies?

People rent movies for many incomparable reasons. One of the most popular departments at your local video store is the new movie releases section. This is where people go to find the most recent films available. It’s a good way to catch up on all the flicks you missed in the theater. It’s also a magnificent way to save money. Before watching a movie at the theaters, many people decide to wait for it to come out on DVD. Several films are ready for rent within months of their theatrical debut.

Some people rent titles to preview them for their DVD collections. While the cost of DVDs has declined in recent years, most people still don’t want to add a movie to their compilation until they know that they enjoy the movie and will watch it again. A DVD rental club is often the best choice for movie buffs. Normally these clubs offer incentives for people who rent DVDs several times a month.

Whether you’re a cinema buff, or just rent movies on occasions, there are many excellent video stores and websites devoted to serving you. The local store is an excellent choice for last minute rentals. The online services are also a great way of renting without the hassles of traveling. They also offer very competitive prices if you rent more than a few times a month. With a little bit of planning you’ll always have a reserve of quality DVDs. There are no late fees, no shipping fees, and at just $20 a month, these sites pay for themselves after just three or four rentals. Netflix, Blockbuster Online, and Intelliflix are just a few in the business that can be worth their weight in gold in the long run.

Visit http://www.88malls.com the #1 Rated Online Movie Rental Club.



Quick House Sale

What child reading about fairytale castles in Europe doesn’t dream of being a handsome prince or beautiful princess, being waited on hand and foot and living a life of complete romantic luxury. Now you are an adult, you can realise this childhood fantasy by renting a luxury Loire Valley chateau for your next vacation. Here you can totally relax and unwind and feel like royalty.

The Loire Valley is one of France’s best kept secrets, located some 200km south of Paris. The Loire River is over 1000 kilometres long and it is the longest last wild river of Europe.

The Loire Valley is actually France’s third most popular tourist destination after Paris and the French Riviera. But the Loire Valley is so vast, that families return year after year and never tire of its many attractions. It has something to offer every tourist.

Firstly it is famous for its renaissance chateaux: town chateaux like Chateau Blois and Chateau Amboise, Chateau Usse the original inspiration for Sleeping Beauty, Chateau Cheverney with the best collection of furniture in the Loire Valley and Herge’s inspiration for mythical Moulinsart from the Tin Tin cartoon, Chateau Chenonceau spanning across the River Cher mirroring her beauty, Chateau Chambord the largest hunting lodge in the world

Francois I was not content with just Chateau Blois and Chateau Amboise as his residence, he commissioned Chateau du Chambord the largest chateau in the Loire Valley as a mere hunting lodge. It took 20 years to build and then he spent only seven weeks there hunting.

Then there are also Chateau Chaumont with its incredible summer long international contemporary garden festival, and Chateau Villandry with its famous gardens. If you need inspiration for a vegetable garden you must visit Chateau Villandry.

Gardening in the Loire Valley takes on a mystical quality, and even Mick Jagger, gyrating thick lipped lead singer of the Rolling Stones who has his preferred second residence, a 16th chateau he purchased 26 years ago called La Fourchette at Pose-sur-Cisse near Amboise, is a keen gardener. Artistic historian John Richardson says of Mick Jagger and his new walled garden “he became completely part of the garden, knew every single thing about all the plants, the flowers, the way the fruit trees were espaliered”.

Fans of Leonard Da Vinci can visit Chateau Clos Luce and admire his bedrooms, kitchen, salons and the chapel and see frescoes painted by his pupils. His paintings and drawings are set out in the park of the castle with giant models of the most incredible machines he invented with voice-overs of Leonardo da Vinci and his disciple Melzi.

There is so much more to the Loire Valley than turrets, towers, topiaries and tapestries. The Touraine region also has the reputation for being the region where the best French is spoken in the world.

The Loire Valley is also a popular destination for followers of the Knights Templar and Holy Grail because of its close association with Leonardo Da Vinci and because it is so seeped in history.

The combination of vineyards and chateaux make the Touraine region of the Loire Valley an incredible destination for any wine lover and his or her family. The Loire Valley really is the most beautiful wine region in the world.

The Loire is France’s last great unrecognized wine region. The Val de Loire wine area is located south west of Paris typically a little over 2 hours drive from the Paris peripherique and extending out as far as Nantes. It is a region blessed with rich soil and a gentle climate, allowing for the production of diverse appellations with vast degrees of character.

Some of France’s best winemaking occurs in the Loire though few Americans are aware of it. Even many French are unaware of some of the gems now being produced in the Loire Valley. No other wine region in France welcomes visitors with such warmth or simplicity. Sommeliers, wine-shop and wine-bar owners, the wine press from Brussels, London, Paris and Tokyo in the know spend their vacations visiting the Loire Valley.

White wines of the Loire Valley typically improve with being aged from five to fifteen years depending upon the vintage and the AOC. A new bottle of French Loire Valley white wine may be fine, but a properly aged bottle is even better.

Then there is the food. French cuisine is famous and flourishing in the Loire Valley. Little village bistros whip up amazing dishes at incredibly cheap prices. Goat’s cheese is a speciality. The local produce is divine. And the glorious local food is best accompanied with a glass or two of Loire Valley wine.

The Loire Valley is especially well-appointed for two wheels because of the gentle gradients and intricate network of back roads that are refreshingly free of motorised traffic. The Loire et Velo track is heaven for cyclists.

The Loire Valley offers everything the travelling golfer requires. If you are a golfer and you bring your clubs you will not be handsomely rewarded.

In France there are 280,000 registered golfers for 340 courses. This translates into lots of available tee times and no crowds on a course. Many golf courses are designed around magnificent chateaux. The finest course in the region, is Les Bordes near Chateau Chambord, consistently ranked in the top five of France’s best courses.

This fine relaxed living is one of the reasons why Mick Jagger holidays at his chateau every summer. With his wealth and his connections he could holiday anywhere.

Don’t just visit a french castle - rent a castle in France and truly experience the grandeur of living in a castle in France. You will be absolutely amazed.



Quick Property Sale

Starting your own quilt shop is a lucrative business.  Not only that, you have the chance to turn your passion into a part time income or even a full time business! So, before venturing into quilting business, you need to consider the following factors:

Start Up Capital

It is crucial that you have sufficient seed capital for your own quilt shop business.  You are required to have start up costs to purchase a lot of fabric and supplies.  Besides, cost of rent and insurance is another items that you will need to consider.  If you are in an area where the rent is extremely high, then you might want to consider having an online quilt store rather than a physical shop in particular if you do not have a big capital.  

If getting loan from the bank as your starting capital is one of the options, then you need to know how to prepare a financing plan in order to win bank’s approval for your application.

Marketing Study

You must find out whether your area will support your quilt shop prices.  It would not be feasible to sell your quilt at say, $10 per yard if your area is willing to pay $5 per yard.  In this instance, it may take you quite a while for your customer to accept your prices and therefore your pay back period will be longer.

Other than the above, doing your own market study will help carving out your marketing strategy and assist you in identifying your market segment.  This is important as targeting the correct segment is key to successfully running your own quilt shop.

In a nutshell, if you plan to start your own quilt shop, make sure you have done your initial budget calculation and conducted a thorough market study of your quilt business.



Sell and Rent Back

Shopping In Italy

Italy’s hottest shopping draw is of course fashion. Milan is home of the country’s fashion industry, but Rome is the main Italian bazaar where the threads are put on the market. Here you can find the ultra chic garments of celebrated designers numbering in the hundreds. Quality is very high and the range of materials includes leather, cotton, silk and wool.

Other than garments, Italy is pre-eminent in the production of quality glassware, furniture, jewellery and porcelain goods.

Shopping In Rome

While Rome is overrun with international fashion boutiques, shopping in the Eternal City can still offer its own very Roman flavour. For the ultimate in windows shopping, the area around via Condotti at the foot of the Spanish Steps is the place to go. You can gaze at the creations of Armani, Prada, Versace, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci and the other grand names in the elegant windows under the baroque or neoclassical facades. But remember that rents in Rome are sky high and so are the prices.

For antiques, head to Via dei Coronari. It’s a narrow pedestrianised street near Piazza Navona. The 500-meter long thoroughfare is lined with antique stores and galleries.

For the true Roman experience, you have to visit one of the city’s many markets. The Sunday morning flea market at Porta Portese is an overcrowded event where you can buy almost anything. It’s held on via Portuense south of the Porta Portese gate. Beware of pickpockets.

From Monday to Saturday, the morning market is in via Sannio, just outside the Roman walls by San Giovanni in Laterano. Here you can browse huge volumes of cheap clothes.

Shopping In Venice

Venice has long been a place of trade and remains a busy retail center. Though the big name fashion houses are well-represented, the joy of shopping in Venice lies in hunting down those local novelty items that evoke the spirit of La Serenissima.

However if it’s brand name fashions you’re after, Venice won’t disappoint. The island’s busiest shopping strip is the Merceri. It runs all the ways from the Piazza to the Rialto Bridge and almost all the celebrated Italian labels have boutiques here.

For other items, Calle della Mandola is the place to browse books and glass beads. And Campo Santo Stefano is the square for antique hunting. However, you can’t leave Venice without getting a souvenir carnival mask.

Carnival is the great event held every February but the masks are manufactured as souvenirs all year-round in Venice’s small workshops. You can get everything from full size porcelain masks with a hefty price tag to inexpensive ornaments such as silver earrings in the shape of carnival masks.

The other great specialty of Venice is glassware from the island of Murano. These include such items as vases, clocks and wine bottle caps. And you can also get decorative items such as rings, bracelets or pendants made out of the delightful colored glass. These can be very inexpensive and make great souvenirs of Venice. Other delights special to Venice include porcelain dolls and Burano lace work.

There is wide selection of hotels in Italy . Check out the internet for hotels in Rome or Venice hotels.



Repossession

Many smaller body shop owners have asked, “How do I appraise my body shop?” In the last month I have been asked to do two appraisals on body shops. The first appraisal was to assist in partnership dissolution; the second appraisal was for marriage dissolution. (That is what the attorneys call a divorce.) Would you like to know how to appraise the value of a body shop business?

Before we begin, I would like to make one comment. Whenever a CPA has done an appraisal of a body shop, I find that their opinion of value is much greater than the actual value the market place will pay. This is not because the CPA’s do not know what they are doing because they do; it is just that the market place places a much higher risk on buying a body shop than the accountants do. The following is an excerpt from one of those appraisals.

THE THREE WAYS TO APPRAISE A BUSINESS

1. The ASSET VALUATION METHOD. This method is basically used when a body shop does less than $400,000 a year in gross income and the seller is making wages, but no real profit above what he would be paid if working for another. On this size business, a buyer is willing to pay for the assets of the business but little or nothing for goodwill. The equipment is usually worth between $50,000 and $100,000, depending on how many frame machines the business owns and how nice a spray booth the business owns.

I have seen some specialized shops sell for more than the above number because they have a truck spray booth or another business attached to the main business. Examples of attached business might be an auto repair shop or towing operation. Also the location, size and real estate rental amount will influence the value of any business, to some degree.

2. The second method, I call the GROSS SALES METHOD. This is used when the sales are over $1,000,000 a year but the profit is unknown or financials are not available or reliable. Because of experience, a Body shop buyer can make reasonable estimates of future profits, if they have some basic information. The basic information includes rent, source of business (DRP, STREET, or a CAR RENTAL AGENCY), and the desirability of the location.

When this method is used, the value appears to be about 3 months sales or 25% of the last 12 months sales. This method is not very reliable on businesses with sales of less than $1,000,000, because the question of being profitable is very questionable. Why is this breaking point $1,000,000 in annual sales? Multi-store buyers will have well paid managers, so many figures their breakeven point is around a million.

Less than $1,000,000 in sales is not even worth their time. Of course we know that there are exceptions to the rules. Some of the exceptions are A. when a new location will be a satellite store to a bigger location. B. The buyer must have a location in a specific area to please a DRP. C. To get rid of a competitor.

3. The third and most used method of evaluating any business, including body shops, is the NET PROFIT METHOD. This method is based on the idea that a business is worth what it generates, in profit and benefits, for an owner. Body shops, like so many other small businesses, often do not show a profit, at the end of the year. Strange, how so many businesses of different sizes all just happen to end up with little or no profit. What I find really amazing is that the IRS doesn’t audit more businesses then they currently do.

As a result of showing poor profits, on the books, it becomes very difficult to use the NET PROFIT METHOD for appraising many small businesses. Luckily for me, I can quite often find hidden profits, of a business, by adding to the books, items we call owner’s benefits. These include: Owners salaries, if a corporation. Personal autos and all the related expenses used by the owner and his family that are written off against the business, fife insurance and health insurance for the owners.

Depreciation is also a hidden profit that is usually added back in to the taxable profit to help build up the total owners benefits. And lastly, personal utilities, phones, trips, etc. that are deducted on the tax return but are not really costs to run the business.

After saying all this, what is the value of a business based on the Net Profit Method? Automotive businesses, especially auto body shops appear to sell for between 1.5 to 2 years adjusted profit (book profit plus owners benefits added back in). Larger body shops doing over $2,000,000 in annual sales may sell for much more, because the owner is making much more money, than just his salary and a buyer will consider part of the profit a return on his financial investment.

Very large body shops that are being bought by public corporations are evaluated primarily on their return on investment (Percentage profit that is being made on the cash purchase price of the business.) These big buyers can afford to pay between 5 times and 10 times annual net profit, after deducting all officers’ salaries and perks.

Often these, public corporations, high purchase prices include two important restrictions, which is really why they are buying the business in the first place. First: The business is bought for little or no real money. They use restricted corporate stock that is not negotiable for two years. And second: The management is required to stay and run the company for some period of years.

The bottom-line, as I see it, is that you sold your soul, not your business. One last comment on selling to large corporations; heaven help the seller who sells his business for corporate stock or the buyers bonds and the buying company goes broke or the stock market crashes. I had a close friend sell his company for mostly cash and some seller carry back financing in Dec 1997. By Feb 1998 the buying company was in bankruptcy, making the paper my friend held worthless.

CONCLUSION: Appraising a business, especially body shops, is an art not a science. No two people will appraise the value of a business the same. I am amazed that the same thing one buyer thinks is a great asset is what another buyer thinks is a major negative. Differences of opinion are what make life interesting.



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