To say go and support your local independent businesses

[Nutmuncher]

Just that really, retail is in absolute dire straits right now pretty much across the board. The big chain stores are better positioned to fight on through but your small independent shops in your local high street such as butchers, bakeries, antiques shops, homewards, art galleries, book shops, florists, coffee shops are all struggling and need our help no matter how small that may be.

That gorgeous tea room, cute card and gift shop, beautiful florist or dreamy book shop will be gone unless WE start using them as much as possible. Small businesses desperately need help and the true saviours will not be in the form of billionaires or politicians, it’s down to us to make sure they survive. Switch up your Starbucks for a local coffee, buy a bunch of flowers from your florist not M&S. Buy a print/ painting from your local small gallery instead of an IKEA picture, beautiful greetings cards can often be found in them too. I for one don’t want a high street full of vape shops, barbers and nail salons because they’re the only ones able to afford the rent on the units.

Your small switch up no matter how insignificant it may seem could make a huge difference to someone’s livelihood.

The trouble is that small shop owners often can't afford staff, or can only afford limited hours for extra staff, so they're in a catch 22 situation. The butcher needs a lunch hour. If he employs an assistant, they need a lunch hour too. Lots of retail staff only want to work "school" hours so the owner has to cover the time before and after themselves, as well as the rest of the day, which makes a very long day. I'm not making excuses here, I'm sure small shop owners want to open longer, but you have to be realistic as to how much someone can do. If, say, a cafe owner or sandwich shop owner has been in since 7am doing preparation, setting up the ovens and other machinery, starting to cook food, etc., for the morning rush, you really can't expect them to work through lunch and still be working till late afternoon or early evening - it's why so many close just after lunch - who wouldn't if you'd started at 7am.

With the advent of working from home, you'd think that customers would be more flexible these days now that they're not trapped in the office 9 to 5 with a commute either end, and there are some green shoots of some shops/cafes in certain perhaps more leefy areas seeing an increase in trade during the day.

I think it's why so many small businesses struggle @Badbadbunny - you either need to work long hours as a solo operator, or make enough money to hire 2-3 members of staff to cover those hours for you. Unfortunately, most people get stuck in the stage where they can only afford one staff member and can't open longer hours but still need to pay the extra salary.

Nail on the head. Use it or lose it, whether it's a shop, cafe or pub.

We've a little hardware shop in our village - it only exists because it's attached to an ironmonger/small steel works making garden gates etc - literally the workshop staff will go into the shop when they get a customer - no "permanent" shop staff so it's low overheads. It's basically the "storeroom" of the workshop, but also open to the public. Typical "open all hours" or Two Ronnies Four Candles type of shop where 90% of the stock is on shelves, in boxes or drawers behind the counter. Very intimidating for a casual customer as very little is on display and even less is priced up. I lived in the village many years before I went in. But when you get over that, the staff are brilliant and everything they sell is pretty cheap. Not only that, but you can literally buy a single screw or nail if you want, likewise a single bracket or hook or strap, etc. None of this having to buy a pack of 10 from ebay/amazon/wickes etc. It's just really strange having to ask for things instead of choosing them from a huge well laid out shop. Not only that but if you ask for something they've not got in the shop, they'll either offer to get it in for you within a few days or they may even get one from the workshop if it's a particular tool that they're not needing immediately and will sell it at used prices to you, and then buy in a new one for themselves to replace. Ultra friendly and ultra helpful. Places like that just take a bit of getting used to. You may ask why they don't display things better, but it's a tiny shop and there's literally no room to display even a fraction of the stock they have. It's very popular with local tradesmen such as plumbers, electricians, builders, joiners, etc as they don't have to drive to the nearby town to where the builders' merchants are located. A real asset to the village, and the entire village would be a worse place if it ever closes, especially as the tradesmen, delivery drivers, etc., tend to buy breakfast buns, lunches, etc at the sandwich/pie shop just down the road, so it drives customers to other local businesses too.

Yup, you're right there. I have loads of small business clients, such as shops, cafes, etc., and they all say the same thing. Can't do everything themselves, but can't afford staff to do it instead. A few decades ago, small shops were "family" businesses with the family living above/behind the shop, so the spouse, parent or child could "help out" at busy times and spread the load to open longer hours, but we don't have that any more and a huge proportion of small shops really are one man/woman bands. Even worse with the increases in minimum wage, employment rights, on top of cost of utilities etc rising, stupidly high rents, etc etc.

Not meant to be snarky but a genuine question. Why are you even bothering with cards for those people who begrudge them? I just would save myself the 79p!

Definitely.

I'm self-employed myself and full to capacity, but can't afford the costs that come with expanding - yes, long term it could make me more money, but there's that "gap" of time where I haven't necessarily got the extra clients but still need to cover an extra set of wages. And I don't even have a shop to worry about!

I WFH, so I'm not 'trapped in the office 9-5' but I am now trapped at home! I barely get time for a sandwich nevermind to drive to town, park, walk to shops (which never have their own parking), buy what I need, drive home and then still have to have lunch. WFH doesn't suddenly mean you can swan off to the shops during working hours.

Also shift workers who start at 7am don't finish work just after lunchtime! When dp is working a day shift he's 7-4 or 6:30-3:30. If these businesses want the custom they need to make it easy for their customers.

@Badbadbunny i can see the dilemma, I don’t blame the butcher but it means one less customer for them. I work on a helpline so don’t have too much flexibility during the working day.
was a response as to why I can’t help to save independent businesses.

YABU, no one needs to be told that. Hardly ground breaking.

I buy quite a bit local, butchers, grocer, bakers every day or two with a once a fortnight trip to Tesco for booze/loo roll/cleaning stuff. The local stores are great and beat the supermarkets on quality but aren't that much more expensive and I can walk to them so get some exercise. It's great being on first names with the staff and getting some local gossip.

I think most people try to get things at the cheapest possible price at a quality they are happy with. I happily use charity shops, independent retailers, Amazon, Primark etc. if I see something I like, at a price I'm happy with, I'll get it from whatever the place is. Our local greengrocers got their stock at the cheapest possible price as well. They didn't support local farmers, as far as I know. Many of their fruit and veg came from the Netherlands and Spain and I mean fruit and veg that grow in the UK and were in season at the time.

Convenience is more important than cost for me to be honest and small independents aren't always the most convenient

Survival of the fittest.

I use my local fishmonger every couple of months even if it's a 20 minute drive away because I value the quality. It is far more expensive than a supermarket but sells things they don't.

I very rarely use a local butcher. It is expensive but again there are a couple of things I can't get anywhere else.

I found an amazing coffee shop in the town centre which is attached to some kind of arts centre. It's only £5.10 for a coffee and scone and a lovely environment to sit back and relax for a while.

I would love to eat in local restaurants, but most of them have closed down, including a lovely Scottish tapas place. There's been two closed down in the past couple of weeks.

I buy at a local baker, it's cheaper than Greggs and has a better choice.

I would never buy the kind of twee rubbish that gift shops sell!

Same here. Time wins over morality when shopping for me, too.
Saying that, I would like to see the Gvt investigating and visibly doing something, about the multitude of ugly cheap looking vape, nail salon and barber shops ruining every small town in the UK. It is beyond a joke now. The tacky nightclub exteriors ruin the vibe of our areas. The amount spent on kitting out these 'disco shops' is in the tens of £1000's. Who pays?
We all know that most of them are financed by illegal means-case in point in my town, of a friend's child (17) informing me his friends were offered cannabis via one (of the many) near us. That one has, thankfully, closed now.