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OPINION
The age of
the indie This is the dawning of a new era for independent retail businesses, says John Ryan
I
’ve spent the past few days just outside Aberlour, a village in northern Scotland where the nearest big-small town is Elgin, about 15 miles away. Aberlour is a place of few shops: a convenience store, a butcher, a hairdresser, a couple of pubs and that’s about it. By contrast, Elgin is a bustling minor metropolis. It does have a retail park on the edge of town featuring all the usual suspects (Asda, Next, Pets at Home and so on) but its centre is an indie retail haven. And while there are a few boarded-up stores - as everywhere else - it’s still pretty busy. The picture is one that is increasingly the story across the UK in small market towns. Frome (where I live) in Somerset, is often singled out in this respect. Like Elgin, Frome is a destination for a largely rural population and it’s chock-a-block with shops where the owner/occupier is on the premises most of the time. It even has an independent store selling toys that has a loyal following and which seems to be able to get hold of most things, even if it hasn’t got them on display. The point about all of this is that, as we all know, one of the effects of Covid has been to make people ‘shop local’ - and in doing so, previously quiet or even neglected high streets have been given a shot in the arm. And if you were in two minds about whether to use your finely-honed toy selection and selling skills to take the plunge and open a store, you could do worse than consider what’s around you, assuming you don’t live in the centre of a major city. In truth, we may have passed our ‘Freedom Day’, at least if you live in England, but this doesn’t mean many shoppers appear to have changed their new-found local habits that much. A quick scoot around central London recently revealed the somewhat unpalatable truth (if you are Hamleys) that almost the whole of a very large city’s centre is in a state of relative quiescence. It’s as if all of those who might previously have visited to take a look around have decided to go on holiday for a while. Perhaps they have (although probably not). But for many, it will be a simple matter of staying put and shopping where they are. One of the many surveys produced recently purported to prove that we all actually prefer to stay in our own locale. If this is so - and personal experience says that this may well be - then it’s time to look at toy shop locations that might not have been thought about in a prior existence.
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Elgin and Frome are both cases in point (and even innercity areas in London, as long as it’s not the centre). These are busy and look set to continue that way. Footfall in places like this may well be higher than pre-pandemic and, well, we’ve all grown used to the small matter of waiting patiently in queues to get in. There is also the fact that anywhere you happen to go at the moment, retail properties are available. They’ve been available for some time, meaning that prices are likely to be flexible and deals can be done. The obvious question in all of this is: what’s stopping you? Fear. Fear that the shoppers may not be there. Fear that they don’t have money to spend and most of them are watching the furlough pennies. And fear that perhaps toys will be low on the list of priorities. The point that has been missed from this list is fear of failure - a lack of self-belief. Conditions are better for small independents than they have been for a long time and, as long as things stay the way they are, it seems probable that this is the way it will remain. You may recall that there was a period when indies were under a lot of pressure, and many were closing. That was in the years preceding lockdown. But now something new has happened and roles have reversed. Think about the last time you went into a large store. If it was in the centre of a city, it may have been some time ago and, in the interim, for whatever reason, local shops have upped their game. Working therefore on the basis that there is business to be done, get out and have a look around. You may draw a blank initially, but there are options. And given the hordes that have decided to exit London for a life elsewhere, with a little research you may well learn that it’s not that difficult to find what you want, and there will be deep-pocketed types wandering around. The road ahead still has a good number of sharp bends and side roads that may prove to be dead ends. But narrowing the odds by thinking about where people are, is certainly a good way of ensuring you stay financially healthy and able to sleep at night. It will also mean less of a commute to get to work, and you might even be able to see your family from time to time. If all of this sounds a bit of a ramble, that’s how most people behave when they shop locally. Time to take advantage of that…
Local shops have upped their game
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John Ryan is Stores Editor of business magazine Retail Week. He has worked for the title for more than a decade covering store design, visual merchandising and what makes things sell in-store. In a previous life, he was a buyer.
