To say go and support your local independent businesses

I've literally spent money in 3 places in person this weekend and they're all independents.

If you make the decision to open a small business, selling at a higher price, then you need to figure out who your demographic are and cater to them. The simple fact is that I can very rarely shop in these places, because in order to earn the money I need to spend there I have to work. If you are only open 10-3 weekdays and Saturday then I don't have time to go to your shop. Small business often seem to be their own worst enemies, there have been multiple occasions when I've been looking forward to going to a shop, only to get there and find a sign on the door saying they're closed for some reason, it puts me off every going again because I have a very limited amount of free time and don't want to waste it.

I went into a butchers in Harrogate a couple of days ago to buy a spice kit I saw in the window which I would like to try - £3.75 each. Go to Skipton next day and they were £3 in the butchers there.
Went online when I got home and they are £2.75 on the firms website with deals to be had. I actually found them at £1.99 to collect but not in my area.
I will never buy meat from the Harrogate butchers, I thought it was going to be my local butchers when I move there but not after that so I will stick to M and S

I agree with you OP.

If we want local high streets and small towns to thrive we have to try to shop local.

Going to a coffee shop is a treat for me (as I have an average wage) but I make sure I use my favourite independent coffee shop rather than any of the chains.

I also use the local florist and greengrocer as much as possible. Same for clothes. I mostly use charity shops or small independent shops and no longer buy from big retailers.

I find waiting for deliveries to be a pain and I would much rather walk into town and shop local and get some fresh air.

We also have a weekly market on Saturdays and it is possible to get fruits and vegs or bread at a very reasonable price there.

Too expensive and not consistent enough.

Not helped by the fact it costs me a money of £3 to park plus a walk across a quite frankly grotty town centre to reach one or two not brilliant independent shops.

Why would I do that when I can order from amazon or go to the retail park where plenty of free parking and all the shops I need right there?

But how many people work 8-5, or 9-6, or 10-6, or any other variation in between? I'd bet you it's a hell of a lot more than 6%.

The point being, that most people can't pop out to the shops during Monday to Friday, 9-5 hours, so when businesses insist on limiting themselves to those hours, they can't be surprised that they struggle.

My working hours are 7.30-5.30. I don't count in those statistics. The point being, most people still work core working hours on weekdays. Many mumsnetters on here have pointed out the same - that the shops are never open when they have the actual time to go shopping.

I stopped using the local bakery when the woman serving had bright blue acrylic nails that touched the food with no gloves. She was handling money and then the food without any basic hygiene.

I also had the shits one more than one occasion after eating there.

I'd love to support independent retailers, but it's a financial privilege I can't afford.

Touching meat then touching the money and giving you change with meaty hands 🤮🤮🤮 this put me right off when saw it in our local

Inspired by this, I made a thread to share suggestions for businesses that are easy to buy from here. Excuse the typo in the title.

It's not really about being "rich" though? It's about having sufficient disposable income to be able to make those choices.

I haven't been to a tearoom/cafe in years, as that's a choice I can't afford. All of my books come from charity shops or car boot sales.
I recognise that butcher quality meat is superior to what the supermarket offers but, again, I need to make choices which align with my budget. I don't eat a lot of meat as a result.

My reference to privilege wasn't a criticism, rather an observation that an ability to make more expensive shopping choices isn't really available to those of us on a low income and/or tight budget.

No. Because i want to be able to do it without it being made into a struggle

https://www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/24880227.braintree-saw-average-11-permits-day-roadworks-year/?ref=socialflow&fbclid=IwY2xjawI6mVlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHWLdH8rVCrYgURuG19Ry3mmoh_EsIOAdZ32Bhp7mACtvR_y74clpBpia3w_aem_s8AjrUvWbP5LP5qSOBxTRg

6% of the UK workforce works 9-5 Monday to Friday.

I have never worked a 9-5 in my life and don’t know anyone who does.

I think your perception of working hours is a little skewed - 94% of the UK workforce is not a random selection of OAPs shift workers and the unwaged.

The big shops and chains, employ lots of local people. There's delivery drivers, cashiers, shelf stickers, cleaners, managers - a whole army of people that independent businesses can't employ on the same scale. These people need to make a living too.

The Amazon warehouse in the next town from me employs hundreds of people in a town where other employment is pretty scarce, and where people don't have money for tea rooms, butchers and artisan bakeries.

I'm not going to shop where I have to pay for parking and they may not have what I need to get. I'm also time poor.

A lot of us can't afford it thoigh.

I'm really lucky -where I live we have an independent butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer, baker, off licence and bookshop as well as the rest all within a ten minute walk. The greengrocer butcher and fishmonger are all competitively priced, partly I suspect because they've been there a long time and have had time to iron out any wrinkles in their business model, and partly because there are also half a dozen supermarkets within a mile, and really good quality. There are queues at each of them every Saturday morning. The baker is pricey but fair and seems to have built up a loyal following. the off licence sells Iain mellis cheese, and most of them also stock a range of groceries. I find I'm spending less by shopping small,, not being tempted by all the extras in the supermarket, wasting less food because I'm buying things as I need them and it generally tastes better probably because much if it is sourced locally and doesn't spend so long in transit. But I'm not cooking for a family so it's a lot easier - I can change plans immediately to accommodate what ever looks best and I'm on flexitime so I can fit shopping in at lunchtime or in between meetings and work earlier/later.

Just because you can't do it all the time doesn't mean it isn't worth trying sometimes.

I do agree with this, but often it's just not possible. We have shops here that are only open 10-4 during the week and that shut at weekends and bank holidays - they then complain they don't get enough custom and that they're "dead" on random Tuesday afternoons in November - I'm not sure what they expect, tbh.

Like I said upthread, it's a gorgeous sunny day today - blue skies, 18 degrees - perfect for a lovely wander in our little coastal town, but nowhere has bothered to open! The cafes etc. are all absolutely heaving but the shops are missing out.

I think it's a case of specific niches rather than always going indie or mass market. I always try to buy kids books for presents in a lovely bookshop because it's showing the ones that are a bit different and unusual. I'll buy stuff from lovely gift shops if it's just right. I'll shop at the posh butchers for a special occasion. Just because you can't do it all the time doesn't mean it isn't worth trying sometimes.

Trouva is also a good find. My local boutiques are mostly on there and I can shop online, whenever I want, then get it delivered to my house with the things I stumbled across from lovely boutique's elsewhere.

I can't afford to shop this way for my general shopping, however we have decided this year that all gifts we buy for family, Mother's Day, birthdays etc will be 1) edible/consumables and 2) from British independents. So far we have sent pies to my dad, and vegan brownies to my brother.

But B and M sells things like cleaning products, San pro and toiletries eg essentials, what's wrong with that?

There are a lot of independent shops where I live, some I use, some I don't.
There is a gift/card shop which I use regularly and is generally busy. The cards are only marginally more expensive (and usually nicer) than the supermarket but definitely cheaper than WHsmith or Clinton.
I buy cakes at an indie stall or bakery, if i am passing, because they are nicer than mass produced. We don't eat out often but we always eat at independent restaurants rather than chain. There is a bookshop that presents as if it's a local shop but is actually waterstones.

I use use the hardware shop but in reality the frequency I need something from there is pretty low....so I'm not popping in weekly, It's a really good shop and has all sorts of useful stuff....that you only need every few months!

Even if you can’t afford shop in local indies all the time, maybe think about giving yourself a percentage. So if you buy all your books on Amazon, tell yourself you’ll buy 25% in a local bookshop and use the library more.

(As a side note, please don’t buy books from supermarkets, that’s the worst place to get them from! They interfere a lot with publishers’ creative freedom.)

@Potsofpetals how can that be the case when some shops open 8-6 but the ones next door only bother doing 11-4?