To ask where all those who said that WFH would be good for business are now?

[ChampagnePuppy]

Sorry, sort of a rant.
I work in a small local foodie business in the South West. I know there is a cost of living crisis, but I also feel that WFH culture is killing us.
So many said that they would spend more in their local high streets now they were WFH but that seems to have stopped.
People are online food shopping and then not leaving their houses. Three local businesses announced they were closing this week, two bakeries and one restaurant. I can count five since Christmas which have folded.
I know a lot are feeling the pinch from gas and electric but a lot of people are just WFH, squirrelling their money away, saving and then saying 'oh that's a shame' on the Facebook posts when a business announces they're folding. Why not support them? I'm not talking about those on the breadline but those who are financially comfortable.
If you want a diverse high street, you have to support local businesses or we won't be here in a years time.

Parking has killed off our local high street. They’ve taken away most of the spaces on the high street, in favour of two car parks at the back of town. Nobody wants to pay and walk (and carry heavy shopping) when they can nip to the retail park for free in half the time.

When I'm working from home I'm usually working during the day, not going out for coffee. (I've been full time WFH since 2018, long before Covid). I used to take my laptop out to cafés and work but now I have more meetings and phone calls I can't really do that.

When I do want to go out, everything local and independent where I live closes at 4pm. I have one day off in the week and try to go out then, but to be completely honest, a lot of independent food/coffee places are very expensive while not being very good, which is off-putting, particularly in current circumstances where we are all feeling the squeeze. I try new places but 9 times out of 10, I don't go back. And going out in general just has to be a rarer treat these days.

I do think people frequently cafes and restaurants as a treat before the cost of living crisis. We would eat out every weekend often all weekend.

But everything is so expensive now that we don't do that. Everyone is trying to juggle the expense of things we need without additional money so something has to give.

A local businessman with 6 posh fish restaurants has just gone under. I personally feel the hospitality industry is oversubscribed, by far too many. Plus eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner while working in a desk-based role is a recipe for being overweight. Plus buying food out is a waste of money.

The people who said 'everyone' would suddenly start visiting local cafes were wrong. And that's before the CoL crisis massively reduced people's disposable income at the same time as forced cafes to increase their prices to stay in business.

Why would anyone go out and pay 3/4/5 times more for food that they can make in their own kitchen with no skill in less time than it takes to get ready to go out and visit a cafe?

Maybe people will go out to places that sell food that takes time to make, lots of ingredients etc, but basic things like sandwiches, beans on toast etc? That would be silly.

You don't need to spend money to get out of the house and have a change of scene, you can go for a walk, visit the library, galleries etc. People might sometimes buy food and/or drink while they're out and about, but the number of people who can do it as a matter of routine is dwindling.

A lot of people buy nice coffee machines to use at home now, especially if they are at home more so they get the use out of it.

It’s definitely the cost of living. DH and I walked past an independent coffee shop the other day and slices of cake were £5. A couple of years ago we’d have popped in for coffee and a slice but at those prices we simply couldn’t afford it so agreed to go home for coffee picking up a shop bought cake instead.

Exactly this. If what you offer is good and appeals to people they will come. If what you’re offering is average and over priced, expect to close your doors.
there’s a really great cafe that does brilliant food and drink, fairly priced and kid friendly and I drive 30 mins each way to go there and they are almost always jam packed.

we ALL have increasing costs of living and need to tighten belts. One of the things we can cutback on is luxuries and that is what a coffee/sandwich bought from a cafe everyday is when you are struggling. It’s not an essential.

If I am at home it doesn't cross my mind to go out for coffee and cake, it's something I do at the end of a long walk at a National Trust place or somewhere like that not just an everyday occurrence when I'm at home.

Even if people are going to the high street, who said they're going to your shop? People go to chain stores, that's equally as big an issue.

I want to go to smaller businesses but when I see the prices, I do usually end up in a chain.

Recently back at work (WFH) after maternity leave (most of it on full pay). Spent a lot of my maternity leave spending money in coffee shops, delis, boutiques etc. a lot of charity shops too. Obsessed with chazzas.
I live in a touristy spot that is mostly non-chain retail. Now I’m back to Amazon next day and Vinted instead of chazzas.

So, I’ve got very recent experience of both types of shopping… There’s no substitute for leaving-the-house shopping, but the at-home shopping is so so so much cheaper. I have noticed the difference.

I feel sort of guilty saying this but, I find the middle of Lidl generally satisfies my weekly appetite for “things you don’t see every day” shopping.

I don't WFH and my spending habits have totally changed due to cost of living. I have longer between waxing and haircuts. Use the library more instead of buying books. Have treats out less often. I try to buy at least something from our local greengrocer/butcher every week but the prices are so much higher. WFH is not the problem - you can't have a thriving economy locally or nationally when people just don't have the money to spend on non-essential treats. All WFH did was bring it home to people how much money gets frittered away on things like a daily coffee on the way to work or buying lunch, so those are going to be the first things out the window when you're struggling financially.

I spend more working from home. I'd love to pass my fuel costs for the working day to my employer and only have to worry about bus fare instead.

I went to my local high street for something specific yesterday. Found it for £17, which seemed steep. I quickly checked Amazon and it was £6 with delivery by lunch time today. I couldn't justify spending that much more on the same thing. It isn't about not caring about small business owners and their families, but I have to prioritise my family and not waste money like that. Previously I might have thought, "oh well, I'm spending local". I can't do that now.

Can you change your business OP to offer catering to people in their homes for eg? Lunch deliveries, hampers for gifts etc?

Also the sheer cost of everything is putting people off tbh. If it's going to cost me an arm and a leg to nip out for lunch, I'm going to be more likely to stay at home and make something nice 🤷🏻‍♀️

Exactly.

I buy a bag of v.nice ground coffee for £3:50 and that lasts me 5 days.

Why on earth would I pay a similar amount for a single cup of not v.good coffee in an often dirty and busy cafe?

I am constantly amazed how busy coffee shops are!

We are v.fortunate to be comfortable but I still refuse to pay it.

Yes, that's another downside to coffee shops.

You often have to queue for an age to get your coffee, and they're often full of other people constantly talking loudly. And these are somehow supposed to be enjoyable, relaxing places to go?

Because a £3.50 latte in a cafe is no better than the 30p coffee I can make at home with my aeropress. In fact the last independent coffee place I went to yesterday had bitter tasting beans so they'd obviously not given enough consideration to their grinding methods/temperatures, and this is meant to be a treat?

It's because until you order, the £3.50 latte from the press-a-button place up the road isn't distinguishable from the £3.50 "I import my beans from x, and I use y machine and z temperature because reasons" place.

I don't want to buy crappy, carb laden food at a premium price to sit at a sticky table, or on an uncomfortable seat. I don't want a toastie with cheese that doesn't go to the edges, I don't want a tiny salad for £5 with fuck all topping and a shitty splash of vinaigrette. I don't want to piss £3 up the wall for a croissant when I know you just go to bookers, buy them frozen in a box of 50 for about £7.

I don't want to go to the toilet and discover there's no soap, no loo roll, or it smells like piss.

I don't want to commute, wasting petrol and causing pollution.

It is no one’s responsibility to keep your small business afloat. If people aren’t shopping with you I would ask yourself why rather than blaming them for not coming. Could you advertise more? Are you too expensive? Do you actually sell what people want to buy? How could your online offering be improved? Do you offer next day delivery?

People generally want to shop locally. As a result of Covid and flexible working I visit my local village high street regularly. I use the two butchers and baker on at least a weekly basis and one of the coffee shops daily. The produce I get from butchers and baker are far superior to that elsewhere so I’m happy to pay more. The coffee shop is one of several but it is the only one to open before 8am and on a Sunday which is when I visit, so it’s the only one I use. I don’t visit the boutiques as I don’t have time to try on and they don’t offer a refund in store. They only open office hours and close Sundays. I can order online but delivery is 2-5 days. I live 10 mins away. I can order the same brands online elsewhere and get them next day. What incentive is there for me to shop there?

If local shops want to survive they need to take a thorough look at their business practices and get with the times. People often don’t have time to browse, however lovely and idyllic the high street is. They would do far better investing in strengthening their online offering with next day delivery and ensuring they offer more flexible opening hours.

I suspect like many others when I WFH I'm not "squirrelling money away" the money I'm not spending is taken by inflation.

Businesses that can adapt best are the ones that survive. If your business relies on workers being in the office then you need to adapt to a world where there are fewer of this sort of customer. People don't owe you a living, especially given the increased cost of living. Businesses that sell luxuries like sandwich and coffee shops are always the first to struggle when the cost of living bites.

Your real target of anger should be the companies that are not giving payrises in line with inflation (which is just about all of them). Start taking your frustration out on them. If people have more money than they need to survive, they will spend it on luxuries. If they don't, luxuries are the first thing to go.

Business is business, some go bankrupt and new ones open. No one needs to apologise for their choices. Life is very expensive now, so obviously people eat out less.

You also can't criticise people who do have spare money for prioritising their own financial stability.

Many people struggled during the pandemic if they'd been furloughed or otherwise saw their income drop, if they had no savings. That, along with a reduction in the availability of things to spend money on, highlighted how much they'd previously spent on non-essentials, like food and drink out of the house.

So they may be choosing to spend less on these things, because they can see the value in reducing the frequency of visits as it allows them to build up savings that they can use in future if they lose their income again.

OP, if you come across as charming in real life as you do on this thread, then you might have a reason your business isn't performing that well.

Wonder if the OP will come back...