That some small businesses are failing because they don’t adapt to the needs of their customers?

[Isawyou]

I try to shop local. Fortunately I do have some great independent places nearby.

What I am finding frustrating is for example the fruit and veg shop closes at 4.30pm. They start packing up at 3.45pm and it is really difficult to buy things from there where they are stacking all the stands with the produce inside. They also look unhappy at customers coming to buy at packing up time. It is easier to go to the Tesco express that stays open until midnight.

Other shops do not open until 10am and close early. So I can’t get there before work or after work.

They complain their businesses are not doing well and people do not shop local but they are not exactly facilitating it for the customers either.

I work in a GP practice, we did trial Saturday morning opening but go so many DNAs (Did Not Attend) it wasn't worth the extra cost if clinical and reception staff. We also though it would be helpful for working patients, but found it was mainly patients of retirement age booking appointments on Saturday

I used to volunteer in an advice/support service that got extra funding to open on Saturday mornings and also late one evening, because some of the feedback from people wanting help was that they couldn't get there during normal working hours. Barely any fucker came.

While it's clearly true that some people are excluded from services that are open Monday to Friday standard-ish office hours, that won't necessarily translate into them going in person at weekends.

Going back 30 years my GP surgery was open on Saturdays but it was a walk in and very busy. I suspect it would take a while for people who've never had a Saturday service to get used to it so that might be why oldies like me would use it as it doesn't seem unusual to us.

We also though it would be helpful for working patients, but found it was mainly patients of retirement age booking appointments on Saturday

I never understand this mindset - very selfish. I'm lucky enough to be able to work very flexibly, from home, so I always ask for weekday daytime appointments where possible.

I don't see what you actually gain by taking a precious evening or weekend appointment from somebody who needs it when you don't.

If no one else is using them it is probably easy to get a quick appointment. Pointless the doctor sitting there with working people not booking appointments and retired people unable to get a weekday appointment but desperate to see a doctor. It would be different if the Saturday appointments were popular and hard to get.

It would be different if the Saturday appointments were popular and hard to get.

It's amazing that they aren't popular, though. I can only think it's because of people not knowing they are available and not because people working standard full-time hours never need to see a GP at all.

I think it takes time, an experiment might not be long enough. For lots of adults the idea of a Saturday appointment will seem very odd and not something they are expecting. That's why I said the older people might be more receptive to it as they remember when it was normal. If you phone up on say a Wednesday and they say the next appointment is Saturday why wouldn't an elderly person take it? The next appointment might be several days away so better for them and better than wasting Saturday appointments.

Every shop and business has the right to open when they feel is best for their business. That's fine.

But don't bitch and moan when other people use a different solution that fits their lifestyle better. I make choices that work for my lifestyle. If you don't want to open when I have time to shop, that's fine and that is the choice that works for your business and your lifestyle. The original post basically says we have a responsibility to share our salaries with them. We don't. We have the responsibility to do what works best for our families.

always think wtf with cash only takeaways... such a hassle. Does make you wonder if they are tax evading...

@BluebellBlueballs Maybe they are or maybe they don't want to take card payments. It's up to them how they do business and up to you to choose where you take your custom.

They also need to advertise it as on option. Our surgery said they were stopping Saturdays, but we didn't know they ever started. We were never offered a Saturday appointment option!

Maybe they didn't want it to work so they could stop as "no demand" for it.

That was my thought.

I was in Devon visiting my mum this weekend and was reminded of this thread when:

her village shop closed at 4pm (lack of staff, apparently they've now found someone new to work there they can stay open later)

cafe closing at 2pm on Saturday in a tourist town

museum being closed on Saturday afternoons, Sundays and bank holidays.

Oh and we went to a cafe that was cash only. I am a bit surprised that they can be bothered to take cash to a bank (or even have a bank that is still open locally).

The vast majority of people seeing a GP on a regular basis are either retired or disabled/not working FT. And are seeing a GP about their chronic health issues.

Healthy people of working age make up a really tiny proportion of a GP’s workload, and when they do need to be seen it is usually something urgent (ie they are acutely unwell and off work anyway).

I expect if they ran a smear clinic and contraception service on a Saturday morning they’d get loads of takers. But DH hasn’t seen a GP since he was in his teens, and he is in his mid 40s now. Most of our male friends are the same. I’ve only been for gynae/pregnancy issues.

I wonder if it was the cafe that wouldn't let us have a slice of bread, it was in a Devon seaside town and it only took cash. I wonder how long it will survive.

There are a fair number of people in their fifties and sixties still working full time with chronic illnesses. I am one. But I always have no problems seeing a GP because like a lot of people with chronic illnesses I only go when I really need to.

Oh I didn’t mean there were none. And equally there are retired people who never see a doctor either (DM being one).

But the people with a weekly standing appointment are generally retired, elderly (80+) and also have a lot of medical problems.

I have a lot of severe and chronic medical issues and I have lots of GP appointments and I’m in my 50s and work full time. In fact, many people I know in their 50s have major health issues -this week alone, a stroke, a heart attack, cancer, admitted to ICU with multiple organ failure, diabetes -all different people. All work full time. And even those that don’t have these things are being investigated in case they have these things.

I live in a small town which is more like a village.

A few of the shops still close one afternoon during the week and shut for lunch!!!!!

This is why Asian owned corner shops booked in the 70s/80s isn't it?

Shops that sold all the basics open til 8/10pm 7 days a week.

Every community needs these shops.

I have a choice of local cafes. One is open til 8. I went into a close at 5pm one the other day. I'd done the school run at 3 then went into a couple of shops so went to the cafe at 4pm. By 4.30 the staff started cleaning up around me and at 4.45 said they were getting ready to close. It's not somewhere you can stay comfortably until 5 so I just won't go there at all after school.

One of my local shops opens 7 days a week from morning until late. Not only do they stock a good range of products within walking distance but they will also deliver to the elderly nearby for no extra charge. They even have the keys for some people's homes so they can bring the shopping in as some customers are disabled. Fantastic service and a huge help to the community.

I have every sympathy with you Bitteralmond it just isn't economic, even though there may be a very small number of shoppers who resent you not being open.

It's interesting that some of the largest Tescos started to stay open 24 hours some years ago. The idea was that there were Tesco staff there anyway, filling shelves. I used to shop at night and saw few other shoppers.
The huge Tesco we use today isn't 24 hours, though I'm sure the shelves are filled at night as they've been full when we visited at 7am.
So obviously even the large stores don't find it economic to be open with few shoppers.
Many who can't shop during normal working hours simply order online for home delivery, and your delivery service is filling this demand for your customers. I wish that there were shops like yours near me.

Many stall holders will work in different places on different days. Though I agree that it would make sense to open earlier it could be that local bylaws don't allow this.

DH grew up with a 24 hour shop around the corner, common in his city. They would be busy through the night as well. Apparently they are struggling for staff now. Probably owners children have other jobs. I wonder if there isn’t as much profit in it as there was years ago as well.