High Street Revival

Three weeks of normality before another Bank Holiday Monday. Running a distribution business the only viable way of continuing to get orders out to customers has been to have 50% staff in on every Bank Holiday to continue picking and delivering orders. This year this has worked very well and our trade hasn’t dipped as it would have if we worked only a four or even three day week.

As predicted in this column a few weeks ago, some retailers found it difficult to get their shops re-stocked in the week between the two four-day weekends. Indeed, I noticed in The Grocer this week that some supermarkets had empty shelves as the warm weather created a run on certain products that couldn’t be replenished.

Staying open during the bank holidays helped avoid this for our customers, but it was still a challenge for us getting enough stock into our warehouse, even though we stock-piled in advance. A few normal weeks are looked forward to with relish, although there is still a bitter taste in the mouths of many employers, as they try to work out why small businesses should have to foot the bill for an extra day’s holiday for their staff.

What was encouraging during this holiday period was that a number of independent retailers were reporting good sales during the long weekends. Several high street shops were also the focus of street parties for the royal wedding – a reminder that there is a lot that independents can offer that the supermarket can never get near!

Also in the news this week was that Mary Portas has been recruited as an advisor to David Cameron in helping resurrect the high street. I imagine this is part of his “big society” idea. Isn’t it strange how almost everything comes full circle?

‘Big’ is, almost inevitably, perceived as being better initially, but ten years later the huge disadvantages of ‘big’ are realised, and we are back to encouraging ‘small’. In the sixties tower blocks were the great new idea, but 20 years later most inner city housing estates were knocked down and replaced with houses similar to those that had been bull-dozed for the tower blocks.

Could it be that we will see the loosening of the grip of the supermarkets in the next few years, as planning regulations are changed to support the high street and restrict out-of-town developments? Let’s hope so, but meanwhile let’s keep growing our businesses!