Solely consumers can save a nation of shopkeepers | Retail trade

I worry that John Harris is partially shopping for into Reform UK’s rhetoric in regards to the decline of the excessive road (The UK’s excessive streets have reached a tipping level – and Reform will reap the advantages, 11 January).

The decline of small companies in our excessive streets is basically the results of client selection. That’s why supermarkets exist. They promote items extra cheaply and have a variety that will be equal to quite a few retailers. Nearly all of the inhabitants prefers to drive and do it multi function go, no matter earnings.

And sure, whereas there are issues in regards to the variety of “dodgy” retailers performing as fronts for prison actions, I discover the proliferation of espresso bars and cafes a welcome growth.

Let’s not get nostalgic in regards to the lack of pubs, which most individuals reject due to various entertainments, notably the younger. The Reform case is paying homage to a world of pleased consumers and drinkers – which primarily meant ingesting for males and searching for girls.Trevor HopperLewes, East Sussex

I don’t suppose John Harris has totally grasped the influence of on-line shopping for habits on the viability of native retailers. Each penny we spend on-line is a penny much less spent in a store. If we wish our native retailers to outlive, we have to use them rather more. That’s the solely motion that may save them in the long run – not authorities grants, tax concessions or capping the variety of betting retailers.

Councils can assist by bringing extra housing and public services into native centres; by opposing out of city hypermarkets; and thru imaginative use of artwork and tradition, of which Rochdale is an efficient instance.

However in the end it’s all the way down to us and the place we select to spend our cash. If we more and more store on-line, we have now solely ourselves responsible for the looming loss of life of so a lot of our excessive streets.John BoalerCalne, Wiltshire

John Harris’s article makes miserable studying, however native teams could make a distinction. 4 years in the past a procuring arcade in Melton Mowbray was virtually derelict, with many of the retailers empty; the native artwork group provided to place work within the home windows to brighten the place up.

Now almost all of the retailers are taken, we have now two artwork exhibitions there annually and the centre has benches and flower tubs and is vivid and welcoming, with help from Melton Enterprise Enchancment District. It has made an enormous distinction with out costing massive quantities of cash. Native initiatives could make a distinction; it’s an important feeling to know you’ve helped and it encourages different teams to get entangled, too. Peter SmithMelton Mowbray, Leicestershire

Take coronary heart from Brixton in south London, John Harris. The noisy primary road – the A23, Brixton Hill – is all betting retailers, vape retailers and takeaways, buses, vans and motorbikes. However within the streets round Electrical Avenue there’s a market – busy, bustling, pleasant and traffic-free. There may be road meals, road artwork, espresso retailers and established native companies. Reform would shut it down – fairly properly all people right here is non-native.

Markets are surviving in every single place; some locations have a market corridor. Some, like Shrewsbury, are having a makeover. They’re central, traffic-free, every day procuring venues in addition to social areas.Robin StottWarwick

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