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!

Who Wants a world full only of cafe Neros, though?

Me, if it means reliable service, predictable opening hours and reasonable (not necessarily cheap) prices.

I honestly don’t think anyone expects a performing monkey.

It’s mostly about predictable and accessible opening hours, clear communication and acting in a professional manner when you have customers (aka not thinking because you’re a small indie you’re doing them a favour).

We’re all different!

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

If you got that from this thread then either you havent read it properly or you are too busy marinating in your own bitterness to get past your own confirmation bias and see what people are actually saying. Perhaps not listening to people is why yours wasnt successful 🤷‍♀️

Many people in this thread have said they would LOVE to shop in independents. I would too. But they can only do that if the opening hours arent ridiculously short and unpredictable, the customer service is good and the prices arent 10 x what they are in chains. People have given multiple examples on this thread where independents have had ridiculous opening hours meaning people literally cannot get in them due to work and then they have closed as a result. How on earth is that not seeing them as "human"?

If anything, I would argue it is the entitled attitude of some of the independents that view customers as non-human. Expecting them to rearrange their working week so they can shop between 11-3pm and expecting them to spend 10 x the money in their stupid shop when we can get it cheaper elsewhere and then having the audacity to lecture and preach to people online about where to shop!

The customer isnt the enemy and if you treat them as such then I am afraid it's inevitable your business will fail. If you actually take time to listen to what they would like from your business and what they value, and adapt to the changing needs of customers then you have a far better chance of remaining profitable.

Yeah, I dont get this either.

If this person is selling things I can get significantly cheaper at another shop or online then why would I deliberately spend more money- whats my motivation to shop there?

Just because someone is an independent doesn't mean mean they are automatically more noble or more ethical or better than anyone else. All it means is, they want the profits to go directly to them rather than a large corporation. The independent business owner wants to be rich just as much as the large corporation does and they are lying if they say otherwise.

Independents are acting like they are doing this for charity or out of the goodness of their hearts! They want our money just as badly as the large companies do.

The ones that do this are hobby shops aren’t they? Hygge Tygge (Motherland). To stop rich wife being bored. 150% markup on stuff you can source anywhere. Always shut on Sundays, open sporadically at other times, you go on the instagram and they’re at their holiday home every 5 minutes. Turning a profit clearly not important.

There are also amazing ones who sell different, interesting stuff and I don’t even mind paying a premium to support a good independent or tiny chain. The ones who do well in this climate work so hard.

My local one was always posting saying it was closing certain times because no-one was booked in, I think maybe it was maybe the fact they charged per adult as well as children to go there, I'm not paying to go to a play cafe, I'm not there to play; my children are, I'll happily pay for them, then buy what I want to eat/drink from you, but I'm not paying you just so I can be there to supervise my own children.

I know there are alot of challenges from local and nationwide government against small businesses among other things, but sometimes small businesses just don't help themselves.

Just remembered when a group of 5 or 6 popped into an indie cafe for a post run coffee one Sunday morning. Told they were too busy to do takeaway (could only see 1 table in there), we'd have happily waited 10 mins but went to Costa instead, and have done ever since; it's a shame as the other places coffee is far nicer.

Thought of this thread having just seen the opening times of one of the independent stores in a nearby town. They all end with 'ish'. Now I get that if it's a quiet day there seems little point in staying open and the costs of being open aren't being covered, but I agree it's misleading to say the shop is open to 3ish and then close at 2!
I don't know who these shops are targeted at though and it's no wonder so many do shop online as these shops tend to open 10-2 and similar even on a Saturday, making it quite limited for people to drop in.
I have also seen one independent shop selling 'handmade items' at a high price which I discovered on temu or somewhere similar!

No point to it being nicer if it's unavailable, though!

My local post office closes for an hour at lunchtime but like your example, never the same hour every day!

Drives me scatty because I just about live/work close enough that I can get there, park up, go in and get back within my lunch break…… but not if it just so happens to be “closed for lunch”!

True. It's a shame as we'd gone in every Sunday up until then. We do wonder if it's because it's a "naice" place if they just didn't want people in running gear there.

There’s a shop near me selling baby crap like that. Personalised teeny, tiny wooden chairs, and very expensive clothes for babies and toddlers.
It’s anathema to me to spend a lot of money on things like that.

I don’t know how they stay open, to be honest.

There was also a Yankee Candle shop near me as well, that lasted about 6 months.
I went past it almost every day, and I rarely saw a soul in there.

Handmade by a robot, or some poor kid in a sweatshop, maybe!

Chemists are a different kettle of fish to most of the businesses being talked about here, because there's a shortage of qualified pharmacists willing to work in retail. There's lots of stuff they'll do where they have to have a pharmacist there and working, and it sounds like they probably just employ one at standard full time hours. That sort of staffing is a lot harder to get than someone to do Saturdays in a cafe.

My husband is a builder and there was a nice pub close to where he was working.
It was a huge building site, so, there were a lot of men looking for lunch, and fancying a ‘quick’ pint before they went home.
But, they wouldn’t let them in if they were wearing their work boots. Even if they put those blue boot covers on them.

I understand that they want to keep the place clean, but, they had 20 thirsty and hungry men outside!
Put paper down, for Christ’s sake!
To me, that’s madness.

Not seek things out from cheaper sources?

😂😂😂😂😂

Deluded.

haha yes - this is a prime example of the cheeky fuckery of indies and its no wonder this person ended up having to close

🤣

I'm really sorry that you had this experience after putting so much effort in. And for the replies you're getting on here too- I think it's just so sad that a pp asked why didn't you get your stock off Temu. I, on the other hand, would be so pissed off if I found that an item I'd bought in an independent shop was sourced on Temu, with all its immoral and unethical background. Which proves that you just can't please everyone!

I must say, in my experience, service in indie shops is far better than at big chains, and the vast majorities of indies around here are amazing and are open normal hours. However, how can they possibly compete with amazon and Tesco on prices? It's impossible. They don't get the massive tax breaks given to amazon, and they can't be open all day and night like Tesco because staffing costs would be ludicrous. People's buying habits have completely abandoned the idea of local economy. I think we've become unethical in the way we consume so much, all the stuff we think we need. Consumerism has taken hold in a terrifying way (and I'm not preaching, I too am of this.)

Another perspective from someone who lives in a very touristy area. There are so many businesses who are ruthlessly aimed at the visitors. We have shops who are open only in the summer months, restaurants and takeaways that are open only from Easter until October half term. It is so bad for the people who actually live here, we live in a ghost town in winter (and don't tend to use those business when they DO open, which they moan about on fb...)

Why do you feel the need to be so unkind, and add a laughing face at the end of it? Did you not read about that poster's horribly difficult circumstances?
Honest to God, there is a person behind the usernames on here. I don't know how you can feel okay being so cruel to someone for absolutely no reason, and then just go about your day as if you haven't started it with such unkindness.

There is an art/ craft shop in my town nice enough. But the owner us so miserable! Never a glimmer of a smile no interaction and barely says thanks if you buy something. I get that maybe there is an underlying issue but come on, if you are dealing with the public you need to interact with them. Also there is often very little stock, as this is the only place for art supplies for miles, I tend to rely on it, but go there and they have run out of basic supplies
So order more or change supplier ! So I go home and get it from Amazon instead!

What pet of the country is this OP? I live in a nice inner city area with lots of boogie independents most close all’s at monday unless they are coffee shops. Open long hours the rest of the week x

This was the early 2000's, the shop closed a few years ago.

Because - how DARE that poster berate customers for not wanting to pay hugely marked up items that people can get in other shops for cheaper.

There is a cost of living crisis currently where people are having to cut down everything thats enjoyable simply to survive and yet this person is berating customers for not wanting to pay three times the price of something simply because it's her shop.

To me, that kind of entitlement is mind blowing and it's a prime example of exactly what people are pointing out in this thread. The laughing emoji was due to the utter cheek of that statement and not a comment on that poster's personal circumstances.