UKC

on our British High Streets. The big question is wether this is the start of a downward spiral or a blip. I believe its the former. Have any of you read the transition handbook, are you aware of the transition movement?

Yet to buck this trend there is a new shopping mall with hundreds of jobs available apparently if you live in West Yorkshire (Trinity Leeds)

In reply to Blizzard: I can't really see the incentive over online for someone starting a business, unless that business is reliant on people actually coming in such as, hairdressers, coffee shops, sandwich shops, restaurants etc.
I do like using local butchers, bakeries, fishmongers etc due to being brought p in a market town. Unfortunately where I live now is not like that so I have to rely on the thing that drives them out of business!

In reply to Blizzard:

Far too many big chain places and not enough unique/one off type shops or restaraunts.
As a small family run business closes, probably due to the painfully tight grip the government has on their financial gonads taxing the arse off them, another bastard starbucks, pret manger or macdonalds appears.

The country is beyond fooked!!!

In reply to sleavesley:

What? People (ie you and me) who choose to shop elsewhere because it is cheaper and more convenient you mean?

In reply to Blizzard: It's inevitable. Soon all the big supermarkets will become nothing more than distribution points for on-line purchases.

In reply to Wiley Coyote:

It isn't always cheaper in supermarkets to buy fruit and veg.

In independent shops you can get diversity and seasonal veriety, in produce from (local) small producers who can't make enough of thier product to supply supermarkets.

In reply to Blizzard: One of the things I like most about Transition is the importance and power of community but also the sense that you can do something yourself. The thing that surprised me most was when involved with transition groups in the forest of dean was how much good ideas can be ruined by committee nonsense. people were paralysed from acting and so busy going to meetings. It was just like a corporation.

In reply to Timmd: agreed, you often get a rapport with certain owners too who are more inclined to give you a discount or something to try for free.
I had this with a fishmonger who if I asked what something was like would often give me advice on how to cook it and hand a piece over to try.

An example of cheaper is Toni's mini market in Much Wenlock, on visiting my parents they had purchased 2 pun nets of fresh strawberries that he had got from market that morning for 75p each. The same size punnet from Sainsburys was 2 for £4 or £2.25 each!

In reply to Timmd:

When the independent shops open in the evening, I will consider using them.

It seems only to be the Asian-run ones that do...

Neil

In reply to Timmd:
>Agreed but my point still stands. It is not 'evil supermarkets' who close down small shops but customers (ie us) who do so by choosing to shop in the big stores. No one puts a gun to our heads to make us shop at Tesco.

In reply to sleavesley:


I would like to like them but I'm somewhat daunted by them.

Anyway, one shop might be closing every hour but the real issue is how many shut AND how many open.

In reply to Blizzard:

and Trinity is acnhored by a workers' coooperative.

It's a tough call really. People like to hate the supermarkets, but employment standards and remuneration is much better than many private businesses - not many private shops provide pensions, or share schemes or paid maternity leave.

On the other hand, it all become very homogenised, and the power of the supermarkets drives supplier prices downward. That said, Booths are an "ethical" retailer, but it's not one if you're on a bidget, and people vote with tehir wallets.

and their watches, as convenience plays a great part.

I suspect the problem is the number of out of town retail centres that have pulled trade out of town centres, because 20 years ago or so, the council did not have the money or committment to solves many of the issues such as city centre parking, transports links and occupier mix.

In reply to Neil Williams: So you don't support Asian-run indepdendents?

Interesting.

In reply to John Rushby: Anecdotally FWIW Cardiff seems to be bucking the trend at the moment. Although there are plenty of retail parks around, because there are good train services from all directions the city centre is thriving - very few vacant units, and relatively few fast food shops and charity shops.

It's a bit of a zero-sum I think though, and it's probably at the expense of the surrounding towns: Newport, Swansea, Pontypridd and all the rest, which are seriously run down.

In reply to sleavesley:

The incentive is simple. You get to try before you buy and if you are lucky, you can get excellent customer service, advice and help in choosing what you are after. Unfortunately, most high street shops don't offer the service side of things at all.

In reply to EeeByGum: that was meant in comparison to the difference in overheads, with rates, heating, staff costs etc etc.

In reply to Blizzard:

(North) Leeds is full of money. At least two universities full of Holly Oaks clones with daddies credit card during the rainy season. It's the poor that are getting squeezed.


D