This is a short feature on how to select a good retail site. I am using my experience with a client who wanted to set up a high end Art Gallery in Mayfair (London). These Art Galleries are centred around Cork Street and New Bond Street. The other streets being Albemarle Street, Savile Row, Mount Street, Clifford Street and Old Burlington Street.

The client said that he had found an ideal property on Old Burlington Street where the rent fitted his budget. He had worked out a business plan, suppliers, monies for rent, staff and refitting of the property. All he wanted was my approval on the selected property, do my magic with feng shui and everything would be work to plan to get the projected sales. It would be Hunky Dory (a British slang) on his part! The rent was extremely reasonable for that area and the unit did not need any money to be spent on the decor. It was ready to use.

I visited the site and asked for the “history of the site”. How many recent tenants have there been? The estate agent rattled out the history of previous tenants and it clicked. It was a nightmare site. Tenants would come in with the best of intentions, refurbish the unit as their version of a high end gallery, get the stock in and waited for business to come. Wait they did. They waited and waited for the customers which did not come. The tenants moved out but after an heavy expenditure of time and money; let alone a loss of confidence. Then, there is the additional expenditure of getting the rent paid after moving out.

He then said to me, I thought with feng shui, you could turn a site with a history of poor business to one with good business. Yes I can do it only if there is plenty of energy going down the street. There is no energy flowing on this street. There are no shops, just offices and a multi-level car park. This speaks volumes for the level of business on this street. That is why you can get the unit for an amazingly low rent in Mayfair. It has a string of failures behind it.

We then toured the other streets with the art galleries. The vacant sites were either too expensive or needed a refurbishment which was way above his budget.

When we parted, he was happy that he knew that his project, as envisaged, would not work. He did not lose any money. The time he lost was in the planning of the project. I would recommend this approach to everybody looking for retail premises. Discuss the project with me first before paying any monies. I certainly do not like going to failing shop and being asked to improve it. In 99% of the time, there is no energy getting to the main door and there is nothing that can be done.

Secondly, he began to recognise the word “bargain” or “below market value” in property. We understand buying consumer goods at a discount. Consumer goods depreciate or have very little re-sale value. There is a serious market in property. A property that is to be sold needs a buyer paying the asking price or better. A property for rent needs to be occupied with a tenant paying the asking rent. An unoccupied property is a serious liability. It is not doing anybody any favours.

When a property that is being sold at a discount, there must be a reason for the discount. More often than not, they have hit a problem – cannot sell at the initial asking price, owner got into financial problems etc. In more cases than not, the feng shui of the property is poor. Therefore, when you are purchasing the discounted property, you are inheriting the associated problems of the property as well.

· If it was hard to rent out; you will also find it hard to rent out as well.
· If it is hard to sell, you will also find it hard to sell as well,
· If it is doing poor business because of location, it will also do poor business as well.

I prefer to be called in at the planning stage so I can comment on the various shortlisted properties.

1. Identify potential locations that would work very well or bea successful location for business

2. Identify property in secondary sites but will be a successful location

3. Identify property that are currently poorly performing but can be altered to be a successful location.

This way, the client minimises the risk of time and money and maximise the upside potential of the project.

Dr Michael Oon

Every time Gareth Malone appears on the TV, leading a group of teenages to perform at a major event, I am there watching the series.

Gareth is a great marshaller of people talent. He gets a whole group of young people who have not heard of the term “opera” let alone sing the classics. He teaches them not only to sing but also assists them to perform a modern opera “Knight Crew” at the famous Glynedebourne Opera Theatre. The Knightly Crew were about teenage gangs and in fact, they were the “stars” of the sell out performances and good reviews.

My interest in the series was how he achieved it using all that raw talent and what benefits were there for the participants.

Let’s go through some of the members of Knight Crew

Korrell – He has the raw talent and the charisma for the role but, he does not have the self discipline to go through the “training” and eventually drops out.

Stefan – When starting, he did not have the singing ability but when just grit and determination, he did it. What was impressive about Stefan was the sheer perseverance to achieve his aim. He has a superb attitude and this will take him far in life

Kiya – Appears to lack self confidence and not appear to try. Perhaps, she needs to be pushed and shown the reward for the effort.

Gaile – Her passion is in the Creative Arts.

What do the teenages benefit from this event? They are shown that working together for a common purpose, they can achieve great things that singly they cannot. It is the achievement that gives them the confidence that they so need at this stage of their lives.

There should be clones of Gareth dong this throughout the country. All the energy of misspent youth going in the direction of achievement and confidence building.

The next time Gareth is appearing on the television –

Gareth Malone’s Extraordinary School for Boys

Thursday, 21:00 on BBC Two (9th Sept 2010)

In an ambitious new series, Gareth Malone teaches in a primary school for one term. His mission is to re-engage boys who don’t like school and who, like many across Britain, lag behind their female peers. His method is to bring risk, competition and adventure back to the classroom. Known for his previous successes as a choirmaster in The Choir, the school classroom is a new challenge for Gareth

Dr Michael Oon

Beijing Restaurant – Guildford

After the financial crisis in the second half of 2008, there have been a good number of businesses that closed. This could be due to poor business, unable to re-finance their bank loans or just a suitable moment to wind down the business.

With the coming upturn in the economy, business owners are now seeking new properties to expand their business. Especially with the increased availability of properties coupled with the marked downward drop in the asking rent.

Of the properties available on the market, there would be a number of properties that have come from weaker businesses that have closed. It is a fair chance that, a good proportion of the buildings have poor feng shui i.e. – insufficient energy getting into the property or retaining the energy.

The business owner taking over the property has two alternatives. One, accept the building as it is and start trading. If there is bad feng shui, there is a high probability that this owner would have the same fate as the previous. Or two, make suitable alterations to improve the weakness with the previous owner.

Beijing Restaurant in Worplesdon Road, Guildford

This is an example of the business, not only upgrading the property but correcting a weakness. This will ensure that the business will thrive over the coming years.

Beijing Restaurant in Guildford – Map

The red arrow shows the direction of energy flow down the hill. They have built a porch in front of the old main door. This changes the location and direction of the main entrance to the Restaurant. The door is now positioned to capture the energy coming down the hill. The image of the new door position is shown in the image at the top of the post.

What was the previous building like?

Beijing Restaurant Guildford – Before

Beijing Restaurant – After

The building looks down the hill. The door also faced down the hill. The energy leaked out of the building every time the door opened. Previously, it was “The Royal” and had a reputation for being an Army pub. It was there for serious drinking and I do not think it made much money as the building was in serious need of repair for many years. It closed at the end of 2008/9 like many other pubs in the area.

With the refurbished building, an extension is built to cover the old entrance and the door is tilted to face up the hill. The door is like a mouth capturing the energy flowing down the hill. This is an example of using a feng shui technique to improve the business in the refurbished building.

Note: This post is about using feng shui techniques and how it is used. It does not imply that a feng shui consultant or consultation was used.

In the past month, I have visited 2 other establishments which have just opened.

In the first case, a Wine Bar, the previous tenant (a hairdresser) traded for 2 months and closed for the lack of business. Before that, the landlord had a series of businesses that opened and closed in that location. I do not foresee this present Wine Bar being in business for long as they have not corrected the weakness of the building.

In the second case, the Japanese Restaurant, the building has a similar history. Again, they have not corrected the weakness and I do not foresee the business lasting. They spent considerable sums on upgrading the interiors of the building.

The point I am making. New businesses are taking over properties where businesses have failed repeated. What makes them think that they will succeed when other have failed repeatedly especially when they have not corrected the weaknesses in the building. I see this as an exercise in futility, the waste in time, the waste of money, the shattering of confidence and other resources.

I commend the owners of Beijing Restaurant in Guildford for their approach and they will succeed for the many years to come.

Dr Michael Oon

In March earlier this year, there was a Channel 4 TV documentary on new editor Rachel Johnson taking over at the helm of The Lady magazine. This is an attempt to boost its circulation.

The owner’s logic, based on the documentary, that in bringing a high profile journalist and novelist, whose brother is Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London would improve the circulation of the money losing magazine.

The documentary was called “The Lady and the Revamp” and described the magazine as “Once the Grazia of its day, The Lady was a highly respected and influential magazine featuring on its pages anything from the correct length of hem for a Sunday Service to a cure for baldness.”

To understand whether this bold move will work, I looked at the building.

Observations and Analysis: The building is at the end of a block; Tiger side (Right side) larger – a predominantly feminine environment in the buildings. Not surprisingly, publishing “The Lady” and it is owned by a woman,

There is a road directly in front of the building (from where this image was taken). The energy flows away from the main door of the building. Therefore, there isn’t much energy getting into the building. With very little energy coming into the building, the business will struggle to survive.

Conclusions: From the analysis of the building, the business will continue to lose money as long as they are in that building. They have employed a high profile person as editor, but that might improve the circulation numbers in the immediate term but it is not the long term solution.

My suggestion: For the business to improve over the long term, it is best to move out of this building.

The second question, is the current magazine format suitable? It has moved a long way since Rachel started her job as editor. It has a more current feel to it that the older editions. The main question is – is this magazine relevant to this day and age?

Dr Michael Oon

Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon and the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico (April to August 2010)

For the past 3 months, we have been hearing emotions vented about the oil leak from some 5,000 feet beneath the waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The Macondo well has now been sealed and we are witnessing the aftermath.

So, what is going to happen to BP? The company’s press releases have stated that it will be a smaller but wiser company.

This has been a very painful and expensive experience. The financial cost has been enormous, a US$ 20 billion compensation fund, setting aside monies (US$ billions) for other liabilities and major loss of reputation to the brand. On the other side, lives have been affected and the damage to the environment. What matters is what comes out of this debacle.

As this blog is about feng shui, let us look at BP from this unique perspective.

The previous BP Head Office was at 1 Finsbury Square until 2003 when they moved to 1 St James’s Square. The feng shui of the Finsbury Square building is good was discussed in a previous posting .

Between the 1960s and 1990s (40 years), there were 2 major incidents on recorded in Wikipedia

1965 – Sea Gem offshore rig disaster
1993-1995 – Hazardous substance dumping (Alaska)

This new Head Office in St James’s is at a considerable distance from the flow of energy. Therefore, very little energy gets into the building (link) and it will suffer “misfortune”. This misfortune could be interpreted as, persistent problems and problems get highly magnified. This leads to loss of business which leads to a smaller business or a merger or a takeover.

The previous owners of the building – Ericsson mobile communications downsized to smaller offices and merged their mobile phone operations with Sony to form the Sony Ericsson brand. This merger is corporate speak for “unsuccessful”.

This is the list of problems since BP moved to their new head office at St James’s Square within 7 years in Wikipedia .

2005 – Texas City Oil Refinery explosion
2006-2007 – Prudhoe Bay Oil spill
2010 – Texas City Chemical Spill
2010 – Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Secondly, when I looked that the PR campaign by the CEO – Tony Hayward, what he said was inappropriate in a highly emotionally charged time even though, with hind sight, he had spoken the truth. BP, with its might and wealth, can afford the best PR money can get, but look what it produced. It scored an own goal and a disaster on the career’s front. Tony Hayward is no longer the CEO of BP.

My prognosis:
BP will lurch from one crisis to another as long as it remains in the St James’s Square Head Office. For the company’s sake I hope I am wrong but from the evidence I have stated, a very rocky road downhill remains ahead for BP.

Dr Michael Oon

Last night was one of the most enjoyable evenings I have had for a long time. It was an evening of Pecha Kucha in Guildford organised by Simon Strong at the Bar Des Arts

Pecha Kucha events consist of around a dozen presentations, each presenter having 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds. Each presenter has just 6 minutes 40 seconds to explain their ideas before the next presenter takes the stage.

It was the entertainment from the people in the group, we were just enjoying each others company. This reminded me very much of the Victorian times, entertainment was from with-in, not from with-out (an external source) – movie, recorded music.

“It is about people – stupid!”

The 11 speakers presented such a bewildering deplay of passions from their different backgrounds that I have booked to attend the next event on the 9th november 2010.

One speaker – Ben Matthews showed his range of light paintings – awesome and stunning! .

Thank you and well done Simon

Michael Oon

Guildford is always busy with shoppers. Why?

Vanessa Warwick talks to me about the Feng Shui aspects why Guildford is such a good shopping centre.

There will be subsequent videos highlighting some areas where one side of a street is busy and the other side is not. Also, a street that is completely deserted.

I wonder why?

Dr Michael Oon

On this basis, I predicted Germany to win but I had not looked that the player composition of all the teams carefully. Now I have done that on the team that played on that night:

World Cup semi-finals (7th July 2010)
Germany – 4 players (including subs) are from Bayern Munich
Spain – 7 players (Barcelona); 3 players (Real Madrid)

Based on these facts; the Spain should have been predicited.
Spain beat Germany 1:0 on 7th July 2010

Lets look forward to the

World Cup Final (Uruguay vs Germany) 10th July 2010

Germany to win as it has the player core based around the Bayern Munich players of Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Klose & Muller (4 players).
Uruguay does not have a core of players from the same club.

World Cup Final (Holland vs Spain) 11th July 2010
Spain to win – 7 players (Barcelona) and 3 players (Real Madrid)

Prediction:
- Germany to beat Uruguay
- Spain to win 2010 World Cup in South Africa

Dr Michael Oon

Background Information:
Football Teams World Cup 2010 – Players and Clubs

Holland (6th July 2010)
Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax).
Khalid Boulahrouz (Stuttgart)
John Heitinga (Everton)
Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg)
Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord)
Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich)
Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax)
Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
Wesley Sneijder (Internazionale)
Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool)
Robin van Persie (Arsenal)
Subs
Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid)
Eljero Elia (Hamburg)

Uruguay (6th July 2010)
Fernando Muslera (Lazio)
Maxi Pereira (Benfica)
Diego Godin (Villarreal)
Mauricio Victorino (Universidad de Chile)
Martin Caceres (Juventus)
Diego Perez (Monaco)
Walter Gargano (Napoli)
Edigio Arevalo (Penarol)
Alvaro Pereira (Porto)
Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid)
Edinson Cavani (Palermo)
Subs
Sebastian Abreu (Botafogo)
Sebastian Fernandez (Banfield)

Germany (7th July 2010)
Manuel Neuer (Schailke 04)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)
Arne Friedrich (Wolfsburg)
Per Mertesacker (Werder Breman)
Jerome Boateng (Manchester City)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
Sami Khadira (Stuttgart)
Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg)
Mesut Özil (Warder Bremen)
Lukas Podolski (Koln)
Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich)
Subs: Jansen (Hamberg)
Kroos (Bayern Munich)

Spain (7th July 2010)
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
Carles Puyol (Barcelona)
Joan Capdevila (Villareal)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)
Sergio Busquets (Barcelona)
Pedro (Barcelona)
Xavi (Barcelona)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
David Villa (Barcelona)

He gave me a very simple rule to predict the next winning team. The winning team will have the nucleus from a single football club where the players know instinctly the actions of their fellow team-mates. This saves them fractions of seconds in their actions and gives the team the winning touch.

For example

The 1966 winners, the England team was built around Moore, Peters and Hurst who were members of West Ham United.
The 1970 winners, the Brazil Team was built around Pele and members of the Santos Football club

He said that as players now played in many different clubs and countries, it was more difficult to find this combination but when it happens, you will know the winner.

The current Germany Football team, is built around Bayern Munich players – Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Muller, Gomez and Klose.

They have defeated England 4-1 and Argentina 4-0 – these are remarkable performances in itself.

Using this criteria, I going to stick my neck out and going predict, Germany will win the 2010 World Cup.

Mind you, I have not looked that the compositions of the other teams but, they have not been impressive or cohesive as a team.

Dr Michael Oon

I have been following England in Football as I see it as a reflection of society. Having lived in England for more than a couple decades, I see the same constant repetition of human behaviour before and after England’s World Cup experience. This is neatly summarised by Simon Kupar and Stefan Szymanski in their book “Why England Lose”.  Iain Dale’s Diary

The performance in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was so bad and it hardly resembled the pre-match publicity. The England Football Team did well in the qualifying rounds and it was assumed that, because of the talent they had, it would do well in the competition. They had beaten Germany in Berlin by 2-1 in a friendly in 2008.

However, developments occur when England was “sitting on their laurels”.

An article describes how the Germany team was transformed after a serious injury to a key player Michael Ballack at the FA Cup Final.

We are currently in an age of instant communication, as soon as you do something different at any major event, the information is available instantly on the internet throughout the world. Using the example of the World Cup, the performance of each team is instantly available to all to see.

The World Cup is a competition and the team with a competitive advantage will have a better chance of progressing up the competition. This is just like in the business world or in nature.

Having watched England play in the qualification matches and the World Cup, the overall pattern of play seemed similar to me. If you were a potential opponent, you would know how to counter this method of play.

The point I am making is in a competitive environment, we should change or adapt to the changing situation that is happening around us. This is the Darwinism – adapt or die. This is what the German Squad did, they adapted to the new situation. Their opponents (England) did not know how to handle the situation.

However, with regards to the FA choosing Fabio Capello, as I understand it, he has the distinction of winning the domestic league title of every club he has coached. His specialism is league football but is he good at knock-out tournaments? It is a different mindset where change or adaptation is required to have a competitive advantage for the moment.

The type of manager England should be looking for one who has an adaptable mindset. A person who is prepared to change with the situation. I do not know enough about football managers but perhaps one whose mindset adapts to the situation – a translator becoming a successful manager – Jose Mourinho or someone with an adaptable mindset.

The issue is with the FA board of directors, do they want to change? Or else, England will be just repeating the same old process as described in Iain Dale’s Diary

I had a look at the feng shui aspects of the FA head office in Wembley, I do not see anything about change, it is more about insecurity. With this insecurity, it goes back on relying on tradition; this is how we have did it before. There starts another cycle.

Dr Michael Oon