Indie shopping boom to continue beyond Covid

Coronavirus has caused Brits to reconsider how and where they shop, with rising support for local food and drink businesses set to last after the lockdown ends, according to YouGov’s latest polling.

The survey of 1,032 UK adults found that two-fifths of consumers had shopped locally for food and drink due to lockdown restrictions, including supporting farms, breweries, fishmongers and bakeries.

And, in a rare piece of good news for independents, these shopping habits are set to last for the long haul. 70 percent of those who shopped locally said they’ll continue to do so even when the pandemic is over. Of those, one in four say they will actually increase their spending with local producers even further when restrictions ease.

In general, YouGov found that after the lockdown ends, over half of shoppers plan to visit their local shops before going to the supermarket. Meanwhile, 49 percent agreed that they would top up their main supermarket shop by visiting local traders.

“The high street has long been under threat from bigger businesses, and it turns out that while lockdown may have been a hard time for smaller retailers, it may have got British adults reconsidering how, and where, they shop,” the researchers said.

“Our data suggests that those who have switched to shopping locally for food and drink on the high street don’t intend to stop.”

As well as bringing about the rise of the locally conscious consumer, the UK’s lockdown has also spurred a higher proportion of young people to shop at their local speciality food shops than usual. IGD’s Shoppers of Our Time series found that nearly a quarter of 18 to 24 year olds said they had visited stores such as butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers in 2020, up from 20% in 2019 as Covid-19 continues to shake up long-held shopping habits.