Retail Opinion - John Ryan believes this is the dawning of a new era for indies

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 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 convenience store, a butcher, a hairdresser, a couple of pubs and this may well be higher than pre-pandemic and, well, we’ve that’s about it. all grown used to the small matter of waiting patiently in

By contrast, Elgin is a bustling minor metropolis. It does have queues to get in. a retail park on the edge of town featuring all the usual suspects There is also the fact that anywhere you happen to go at (Asda, Next, Pets at Home and so on) but its centre is an indie retail the moment, retail properties are available. They’ve been haven. And while there are a few boarded-up stores - as everywhere available for some time, meaning that prices are likely to be else - it’s still pretty busy. The picture is one that is increasingly the fl exible and deals can be done. story across the UK in small market towns. Frome (where I live) in The obvious question in all of this is: what’s stopping you? Somerset, is often singled out in this respect. Fear. Fear that the shoppers may not be there. Fear that they

Like Elgin, Frome is a destination for a largely rural population don’t have money to spend and most of them are watching and it’s chock-a-block with shops where the owner/occupier is on the furlough pennies. And fear that perhaps toys will be low the premises most of the time. It even has an independent store on the list of priorities. The point that has been missed from 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, “ 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 one of the effects of Covid has been to make people probable that this is the way it will remain.

‘shop local’ - and in doing so, previously quiet or even ” You may recall that there was a period when neglected high streets have been given a shot in indies were under a lot of pressure, and many the arm. And if you were in two minds about whether to use your were closing. That was in the years preceding lockdown. fi nely-honed toy selection and selling skills to take the plunge and But now something new has happened and roles have open a store, you could do worse than consider what’s around you, reversed. Think about the last time you went into a large assuming you don’t live in the centre of a major city. store. If it was in the centre of a city, it may have been

In truth, we may have passed our ‘Freedom Day’, at least if you some time ago and, in the interim, for whatever reason, live in England, but this doesn’t mean many shoppers appear local shops have upped their game. to have changed their new-found local habits that much. Working therefore on the basis that there is business to A quick scoot around central London recently revealed be done, get out and have a look around. You may draw a the somewhat unpalatable truth (if you are Hamleys) blank initially, but there are options. And given the hordes that almost the whole of a very large city’s centre that have decided to exit London for a life elsewhere, with a is in a state of relative quiescence. It’s as if all of little research you may well learn that it’s not that diffi cult to those who might previously have visited to take fi nd what you want, and there will be deep-pocketed types a look around have decided to go on holiday for wandering around. a while. Perhaps they have (although probably The road ahead still has a good number of sharp bends and not). But for many, it will be a simple matter of side roads that may prove to be dead ends. But narrowing staying put and shopping where they are. the odds by thinking about where people are, is certainly a One of the many surveys produced good way of ensuring you stay fi nancially healthy and able to recently purported to prove that we all sleep at night. actually prefer to stay in our own locale. If It will also mean less of a commute to get to work, and you this is so - and personal experience says that might even be able to see your family from time to time. this may well be - then it’s time to look at toy If all of this sounds a bit of a ramble, that’s how most shop locations that might not have been thought people behave when they shop locally. Time to take about in a prior existence. advantage of that…

Local shops have upped their game

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.