To think *some* independent shops really aren't helping themselves...?

[BeansAndNoodles]

I'm massively supportive of small businesses, I try to use them as often as I can. We are lucky to have a high street with lots of independent shops. However, my trips to town are limited due to being short of spare time, plus parking costs a fortune unless you limit it to the free 90 mins that you get in the supermarket car park, etc.

But time and time again I go to one of the independent shops to find them randomly shut. I get that they probably only have one staff member so it's hard to stay open if anything out of the ordinary happens, but it's still so flipping frustrating.

The last few trips to town have ended with me ordering stuff online or going into one of the chains because the independent shops I wanted were closed for no apparent reason. The independent health food shop is the worst, they close for an hour at some point between 11 and 3 for lunch but it's not the same time day to day and they don't say on the closed sign what time they'll be back, so if you get there and it's shut you don't know if it's worth trekking back to that end of town in 30 mins or not. I tend not to even bother checking now and just go straight Holland & Barrat instead. Several more shops seem to rely on posting that days opening hours on their FB page, but thats hardly a reliable way to tell people if they're open or not! Last week I had an afternoon off and took a trip to a different town specifically to go to a shop that stocks work by local artists to get some cards and gifts, only to find it closed with no indication of why or if it was opening late or what. I checked their FB page while stood outside but nope nothing. Later that day (3 hours after their stated opening time) they posted that they'd decided to open later for the Christmas lights switch on and that they hoped people would come and support them

Anyway I've just seen yet another slightly passive aggressive plea from one of the owners of the worst shops for this, complaining how quiet business is and telling people to use them or lose them yada. Well yes I totally agree but more often then not when I try to use them they're not bloody open!

God, this drives me bonkers! We have a local restaurant that is like this, constantly bitching about how hard it is to run a small independent restaurant - like I have no doubt that it is, but your own costumers aren’t the people to bitch to! It’s called the hospitality industry for a reason - you are supposed to be hosting people!! I.e. making them feel welcomed, relaxed and cared for!
My family used to run a village pub, it was bloody thankless behind the scenes at times but you’d best believe they weren’t behind the bar moaning, because the place would have been empty within a month!

I do think sometimes these shops are run as a hobby; i worked in one 20 years ago, i was often alone in the shop, but never closed during opening hours unless it was an emergency.

When I was on annual leave, the owner opened late and closed early. When I went back I was on full days again, the rubbish bin hadn't been emptied for a week, and several bulbs were out in the window. I was doing everything for barely more than minimum wage. I didn't stay there long.

Yes surely that’s the time to be open 😂

Now strangely when I buy at Waterstones I’ve had a few chats with the lady on the till saying ooh I love a good Kate Atkinson or nicci french etc and debating our favourites - we have a really fabulous bookshop here in Bath called Toppings.

Love Toppings!

Such a great shop and so many people really don’t know there’s that fabulous basement - what I love besides the beautiful building is I see real one offs I wouldn’t know were out there and a lot of signed copies too - it has all the best book tours too . If anyone visiting Bath doesn’t know it , please do pop in - ( and no I’m not connected in any way apart from living here)

I went into a new eco store and i love the ethos of eco stores and independent small businesses. Everyone was raving about the new shop. I went in with my child as I wanted to introduce him to shopping ecologically. Sadly the shop keeper was really unfriendly / unwelcoming towards my child and was clearly uncomfortable having a child in the shop. I said he is a good boy and with me so he is fine. She watched us like a hawk and made me feel uncomfortable. He touched some metal straws loose in a basket and she told him off - he was just being curious. i also picked up a metal straw to look at it - but was not told off. So I decided to leave without purchasing anything and i have not returned. The owner was hostile and I wont give my patronage to any store who is hostile to their customers, At a later community event she had a stall and was handing out business cards and leaflets and being really friendly and she clearly did not recognise me without my child with me. i didn't say anything as there were others around and I didnt want to negatively impact her business. But I now buy my eco goods online - because of her and also as its more convenient and cheaper.

Yup. Our town is dreadful for it. Open at random when they feel like it and sell too much high end pricey stuff. Their attitude is always shit too, they seem to not give a damn about your custom when you walk in which is completely bizarre.

We have a few gorgeous toy shops here that sell beautiful things. They post endlessly on SM “shop locally this Christmas”. Well, I would, but my kid doesn’t want all your expensive wooden stuff. He wants Lego 🙄

I went in there recently my Labrador and all the workers were cooing over him, so helpful with a book I was looking for too.

How do they afford it though? Rent for shops here is extortionate

I live near an English seaside town that is heaving in the summer holidays. There’s also a big annual event weekend that attracts a couple of hundred thousand of people to the town. It gets rammed, but lovely to see people enjoying themselves.

And yet it also has the independent businesses who keep the same short hours all year round and don’t open on a Sunday, even for the massive event. I really don’t get it, surely you’d want to open every day during the busiest time of year and then balance it out with shorter hours in the grim winter months when only the locals are shopping. During the Big Event there are lots of food and “stuff” stalls from businesses all over the county, travelling fairground rides, and the same local businesses that are shut then whinge that most of the profit from the Big Event goes outside the town. Well, durr!!

I must say the local businesses where I live (up and coming but not a naice part of East London) aren’t like this at all. Stick to their published opening hours religiously, and open longer in the run up to Christmas. Great at answering queries via social media.

😂
This could be in a sitcom!

Totally agree with the OP and many other posts. The one I find frustrating is when a business starts closing early "because it's quiet". Do they not realise that if you make a special trip somewhere and they're not open when they've said they will be, then you won't go back at that time again (if at all) so it gets even more quiet. It becomes a feedback loop. One place I really liked I said to them "I tried to come here twice last week and both times you were shut" "well it wasn't worth being open it was so quiet" but couldn't really get them to understand that they're just making it worse. Eventually they closed for good and I go to Costa.

I got out of independent retail after 7 years, 2 years ago.

And I'm glad I did, because frankly no amount of effort pleased the customers. I tried every combination of opening hours, pandered to "the community" ran events, collaborated with other venues, offered a niche service, and by the end realised I was on a debt fuelled spiral to nothing.

I had people come in and photograph my stock to search it cheaper online. Outlets like Temu sell the same things I was buying from "specialist" wholesalers cheaper than I could buy them from the wholesalers.

It wasn't my "hobby" it was my living, especially after my DP died unexpectedly.

I was supposed to be present in the shop, build a website, be proactive across multiple social media platforms and basically be a performing monkey for customers who lamented my closing but who barely crossed the threshold.

I didn't beg or ask for charity, I offered an ecelectic stock across multiple price ranges. I tailored my stock to market research and towards the end spent days, into the evening, climbing the walls as footfall dwindled.

And judging by this thread, nobody actually wants independent retailers, and certainly don't see them as human.

So I'm exceptionally glad to be out of it. Customers are fickle creatures, and I miss them not one jot.

Why didn't you buy your stock from temu if it was cheaper there than the wholesalers you were using?

Because I'd have to mark it up to 2.4 times the price to cover costs and overheads and people can buy it direct cheaper. Plus the "ethical" considerations. You see comment after comment on here from people handwringing about buying from cheap online sites.

The fact is that consumerism is eating itself and people are utterly blind to it.

You sound bitter. What would you have had your customers or prospective customers do differently all those years?

Yes, I am bitter.

What would I have liked customers to do? Cross the threshold more often? Not seek out the things I stocked from cheaper sources? Not pretend they valued my shop on social media and then plead poverty while shopping elsewhere and posting about their bargains? Not ask me to stock particular things then never turn up to buy them?

You see, there's the real world, and then there's "Instagram" and Tik Tok, which is essentially fake, and that is the problem. Online everything has raised expectations to unrealistic levels.

And I do think that the attitude displayed here, that independent retailers are "playing" at it, with a sense of entitlement, is borne of a bit of jealousy.

What isn't appreciated is that leases are fixed, even if you're lucky enough to have a break clause. Utilities are expensive. Insurance must be paid for. Sometimes, something as simple as the council upping parking charges, a change of bus route, or roadworks completely throws off your cashflow.

As I say, I tried pretty much everything to keep going. But nothing was ever enough. So yes, I am bitter.

A cafe a couple of miles away from me was recently complaining on social media about lack of custom. They are open 10 - 3pm weekdays only. They serve afternoon teas which I'm sure are very nice but I don't want to have my tea at 2pm thanks. The cafe is also situated in an area where there is very little parking, and its not particularly near any schools or other shops.
I can't help wondering why on earth the owner thought a cafe in that location with those very limited hours could ever be successful? It's a business, not a charity.

Absolutely I support small and independent businesses but at the end of the day businesses fail if they can't generate enough customers. That means being realistic about how much effort you are prepared to put in to satisfy their expectations.

We have a lot of small independent shops around the area. They almost all fold within a couple of years and are always bewildered and upset that they aren’t ’supported by the community’. But they don’t listen to feedback from
the community! They are often twice the price as bigger shops for an identical item, have ridiculous returns policies, are shut half the time and are awkward about the strangest things.
I went in to a gift shop to buy a glass candlestick. It’s £4.99 on Amazon, and between 4- 8 quid elsewhere. In the local shop it was £15 and the owner expressed disappointment that I wasn’t buying- she said knew it was more expensive but this way I would be supporting a family! I have my own to support thanks!
A local cafe wouldn’t serve a scone with tea, although they had scones on the menu as part of a cream tea. The owner told us we were only the 4th people in that day.

But what was your USP then? Surely there has to be a reason to set up an independent retail business beyond buying stuff that’s readily available online at a high mark-up?

I’m not trying to be nasty - I’m just curious as to what some people (not you, necessarily) are in the business for. If you are a craftsperson or someone who imports very special items not easily available elsewhere, then I get that. Or if you’re selling other artists’ or craftspeople’s work. But surely no-one just runs a shop selling ordinary stuff you can buy more cheaply elsewhere and gets huffy because customers see through it?

Absolutely. If you go to our village on a Monday it’s like a ghost town - everywhere randomly shuts. It does attract a few tourists or visitors and I often see some walking around bemused. The pet shop is the worst - haven’t posted on social media for years - opens at random times it’s completely hit or miss if you find them open or not. Someone posted online the other day that ‘don’t forget they do a delivery service!’ No one had a clue they do a delivery service - they’ve never advertised that fact. I’m bitter because I would bloody love that pet shop and keep thinking of all the things I would do with it. It’s prime location to make a killing - lots of older people with money who dote on their little dogs but nada.

I also find with independents that they hype themselves up on social media ‘meet the team’ all laughs and japes and then when you go in they’re as miserable as sin and unhelpful.

I’m absolutely stumped at why they all insist on opening 10-4 when they’re sat there twiddling their thumbs moaning about the lack of customers. I would be opening at least one late evening a week and probably a Sunday as that’s when people like to come for a walk around.

Thanks for the rant 😂

A number of small businesses I've seen fail very quickly, seemed like hobbies taken too far.
One was a shop full of absolute shite for kids - baby bibs with names on, pink girly clothes and bags for primary age, hair bobbles, pencil cases etc.
Also a couple of micro-breweries, which were just blokes who liked talking about beer too much, tried to brew/sell their own in unsuitable premises, and didn't realise their products weren't good, or that you had to take design seriously, etc.

I’ve learned the hard way that (counter intuitively) I get a better experience in Caffè Nero, and excellent coffee…than by risking an independent. Sorry to say that, but I’ve found them hit and miss. One or two have been good, but reading posts on here has reminded me of the many times I’ve had rudeness as well as watery coffee in these places.

A cosy- looking coffee shop in Marlow…I stepped inside, glancing behind the counter for a blackboard menu, when the hipster serving jumped on me. I mumbled something about whether they did (can’t remember exactly… baguettes or something) and got such a sneery, sarcastic response that I just turned on my heel and walked out. Next time we went the shop was gone…quelle surprise!

Another independent took just ages and ages to bring our coffee. This was not a one-off..we do actually go there regularly. What is their problem?🤔 I’d give them a swerve but husband likes them, so…