To think that shops charging non-locals higher prices is not on?

[BBInGinDrinking]

We're on a family holiday staying in a rural coastal cottage in the UK and have been doing all our grocery shopping at the local stores in the nearest villages. I discovered on the last visit to a general store in one village that they have two sets of prices - lower ones for locals and higher ones for visitors.

Who knew?! Is this a thing?!

@Fraggling I was about to say the same

Is it a co-op? There’s one in my city (obviously I don’t mean THE Co-Op). Anyone can join, but it wouldn’t be worth it to you if you didn’t actually live there.

Completely agree, @TerribleCustomerCervix. Most UK holiday places have very low wages, high house prices, and a lot of poverty when the season ends.

You expect this in African markets but not UK shops

Which African markets are these?? Tunisia or South Africa? (A few thousand miles apart on the African continent.....)

I don’t see a problem with this

Might it be a community enterprise which locals support financially up front or give their time free to work there, and the lower prices are in return for that?

It's perfectly legal for them to charge a different price to every individual who walks through the door, as long as they don't differentiate based on protected characteristics.

The displayed price in a shop is merely an 'invitation to treat' - i.e. a starting point for bargaining, should you be inclined to do so.

If you aren't happy with the prices or the policy of charging locals less, then you have the option of shopping elsewhere - you'd have to consider whether the costs of travelling to another shop outweighed paying more locally, and whether the effort was worth it.

What's the issue?
It's not so much charging a premium to the tourists so much as a loyalty discount to locals.
Same as I do at work for a service. If you're a regular you get it cheaper than a one off.

My parents live in a very touristy part of the Cotswolds and quite a few of their local shops and businesses do discounts for locals.

Surely it’s a local co-op and investors/non investors prices. Maybe check before you start ranting and naming and shaming?

How is it different to the loyalty schemes run by most supermarkets?

are you holidaying in Royston Vasey op? (is it a local shop for local people?)

id find the nearest Tesco personally. bollocks to that!

Where is this happening ??

Overseas visitors to Macy's get a 10% discount card, so paying 10% less than locals. This is the same principle, yet I've never heard a tourist complain about it. Does "discrimination" only apply where it is not in your favour?

They give locals a discount? Don't have a problem with that. They need to encourage locals to shop there too.

The more people become aware of this, the more people are going to bring their own food on holiday. So the shop loses income it could otherwise have had.

I think that's a horrible way to treat customers who support your business. I'd avoid using them as a tourist out of principle, even if it were inconvenient.

Couldn't they just run a discount scheme that locals apply for and get a card or something, rather than pretty much stating on the shelves that they dislike and disrespect tourists?

I’m surprised at the answers here, especially since we are always trying to keep the UK inclusive. What if shops had different prices for ‘foreigners’ then? Once price for English people only? It’s ok for pubs wanting to ‘keep Welsh pubs Welsh!’ Sorry, no. It’s disgusting.

I'm on the Management Committee of our community-owned village shop and we don't do this. But it is food for thought (pun intended).

The shop is owned by shareholders in the community, staffed and managed by volunteers. Tesco it is not.

Discrimination! 😂😂😂 against that protected characteristic of “tourist”.

I don’t have a problem with it. It’s the same in many o redraw countries - for instance, I get residents’ rates for various tourist attractions in the country where I currently live.

Is it only me that finds this quite funny?

I can't see any problem at all with giving regular customers a discount. All the big supermarkets do it, but when a local shop does, suddenly it's 'disgusting', 'name and shame' etc.

Their shop, their rules. They're not breaking the law and can charge what they like.

Is it any different to offering reductions for OAPs or NHS workers or students????

Or any different to tourist attractions offering discounts for residents living within x miles?

What if shops had different prices for ‘foreigners’ then? Once price for English people only?

That would be discrimination based on a protected characteristic and would be illegal.

As a pp said, being a tourist isn't a protected characteristic.

However, I agree the shop could find itself in difficulties if a tourist claimed that the higher price had been charged due to a protected characteristic they happened to have - so the shop would be better off being open about it and publishing separate price lists or having a sign that said a 10% discount was available on proof of local residency, for instance.