Over The Counter

Ranting

AndRaving

Even when my Dad was very ill, he would ask the same questions every time I saw him. Were we busy today? Were the papers on time? Who was working?

That shop was a huge part of his life. It was a validation that he had achieved something from very modest beginnings. The way he cared for those who worked with us, the many suppliers that became friends made it feel so important and so very real.

My father was a fiercely proud and fair man who never asked for anything and that was often to his disadvantage. He would never ask for discount as he believed people would be as fair to him as he was to them.

Yet with each passing day I get more and more frustrated at our politicians and the way they look on and treat family businesses and small retailers across the country. ‘Fair’ is not a word I would use.

I don’t want to get political here and I don’t want to say that one party is better than the other as I honestly don’t think that any of the politicians really understand the challenges we face as business owners. The vast majority have never had to do what you or I do. They have never had to create their own wealth. They have never had to worry about having to generate the money to pay their staff wages, let alone themselves. They throw words around like ‘regeneration’, ‘urban space’ and ‘rebuilding’ without any true understanding of what that entails. Covid has accelerated some patterns of decline and we are in a period of rising inflation. The stark reality is that the majority of our customers will be facing a squeeze on their disposable income and it will be even harder for us as retailers to win their spend.

No one wants to have the difficult conversations on minimum wage, living wage or whatever you want to call it. No one wants to really tackle rates, landlords, lack of investment in buildings or indeed the choking of footfall into the town centre. We have never sorted out car parking charges, the horrendous planning legislation that takes forever or the imbalance that allows some buildings to be allowed to rot while others are forced to spend fortunes on theirs.

There is also an issue fast incoming with old shopping centres in towns that need to be knocked down, but continue to limp along, while beautiful new glass buildings are green-lit often on the edge of town.

I believe that we are in a transitional period between the old ways of retail and the new proposed mixed use of the high street.

In the latest round of bounce back funding in Scotland our Chancellor has allocated £3million for city centre funding for the whole country. Yes, for the whole country and I am pretty sure that towns and cities up and down the country could spend that on a single area easily.

We simply can’t wait around for others to fix it, but many of us are tired of trying. We end up praying that our business will exist like some kind of little island on its own. That doesn’t work though as you need

I am writing this on Valentine’s Day… The day for lovers, the day for romance, but I have a pregnant wife who doesn’t really feel like going out and is understandably tired, all the time! Tomorrow is the third anniversary since my dad passed away. I think about him every day and often wonder what he would have made of these last few years. How would he have coped with the separation and hardship of Covid, of keeping your distance, of the changes to his beloved business?

But we have to keep the faith and enjoy our love of those around us, in our personal and business lives, even if the politicians continue to irk.

Above: The Robertsons felt the love…David and his wife Nicola’s Valentine’s Day cards to each other. Left: A young David (with an uncanny likeness to Ed Sheeran) with his dad. Below: It is hard to replicate the personal service an indie offers instore via an online experience.

other good businesses around you to create a desire for the public to come to a location.

You also need to stay ahead of the curve. You need to be trying to think those three moves further ahead and be brave. Yes brave. In retail just now, being safe and selling/doing the same thing means that you don’t stand out from the crowd and the one thing I see that makes smaller indie shops successful is the way that they try to be different.

As I have always maintained though, our one weapon is our service - how we look after and inform our customer.

Like others I have launched websites to try and bring our unique instore experience to a platform, but online we will never be able to compete on price or service with Ebay or Amazon.

I read with interest the headline in The Guardian on 11 February 2022: ‘Abolish the internet shopping in Belgium says leader of party in coalition’ with Paul Magnette, the Socialist leader describing e-commerce as ‘social and ecological degradation’.

Bit strong? Well, he argues that ridding Belgium of internet shopping would see its High Streets thrive and it would reduce the need for people to work nights in warehouses. He questions that we don’t

need to receive parcels within 24hrs. Why can’t we just go into a shop, buy a book and walk home with it?

Belgium was typical of most of the 27 EU states, with 75% of 16-74 year olds having made a purchase online. In Denmark the percentage was even higher - up at 91%! We should probably open shops in Bulgaria where only 33% of this age group bought online.

When you see the sharp rise in UK online shopping during the pandemic, going from 40% who were shopping more online at the start of Covid, but rising to a peak of 75% in February 2021, the speed of transition is truly scary.

This change will naturally slow down and reverse a little, but the High Street has to wake up to this challenge.

I have visited different town centres recently and was encouraged with what I saw, despite some empty units. I then visited a farm shop just off a main arterial road and quite simply it was mobbed. Is this the future? Well, I would say that has been the case for a long time and that destination/free parking/coffee shop and retail mix is without doubt the one area of true growth I can see.

Now I know what you are thinking, that this is a negative column and negative thoughts get you nowhere.

Well, that is one way to look at it, but I am really just ‘keeping it real’. I am not by nature a quitter or a ‘Debbie Downer’. Difficult times tend to bring the best out of people. When I look at our industry no-one has simply lain down to the issues. We have all changed, pivoted and taken our shot better than Lebron James in the NBA and will continue to do so.

I want to finish by mentioning three really interesting people that I met at the Spring Fair and one old friend who most definitely put a spring in my step and had me jumping for the hoop...

Sabina Kovacheva from Sabivio

Design: I have looked at cards from Sabivio before but have never got round to actually stocking them.

Sympathy is our biggest seller and Sabina’s new range, Garden, has truly beautiful designs. Her other occasions designs also appealed and Sabina was so pleased to see us and for us to become stockists that her excitement was infectious.

Archie Archer from Sea Glass by

Archie: I met Archie on the first day of the show on her stand that was tucked away at the back of the hall. I loved her energy and her belief in the brand, with her cards encompassing sea tumbled glass pieces (from a long gone Victorian factory) that she collects from beachcombing with Bolt her dog.

When I went back to place the order Archie was just as great. It was so refreshing to deal with someone so unjaded. And as a result of being at the show, she was tweaking her envelopes. It reminded me why I love the creative people behind our cards.

Helen Richmond of Helen

Richmond Designs: I haven’t ordered these cards yet but I will. Helen’s beautiful illustrations of all kinds of sports tie in with trends such as paddleboarding, BMXing and wild swimming.

Her cards caught my attention and I loved the fact that with only 30 stockists in the UK they are still an undiscovered gem even though they had made it all the way to Japan to be sold in the Olympic store.

Wendy Jones-Blackett of Wendy

Jones-Blacklett: I walked into the show with Wendy on the last day and as always she was so positive it was infectious. Her designs are always great and I love stocking them, but more importantly I enjoy my conversations with her and her husband Steve who I feel are real champions of our industry.

So yes, it is still challenging out there and I am perhaps more disillusioned with our leaders than ever before, but as long as there are people like Archie, Sabina, Helen and Wendy we should be all right. Their love and enthusiasm for cards and the people behind them and who receive them make this industry special. Repeat after me… “Positive Thoughts”!!

To contact David email: jppozzi@btconnect.com

Right: A Helen Richmond design which is of the time. Below left: Sabivio’s Sabina Kovacheva on her stand at Spring fair. Below right: Steve and Wendy Jones-Blackett (left-right) with colleague Jacqui Godlove and Pigment’s Steve Baker on the WJB stand at Spring Fair. Bottom: Archie Archer with her dog Bolt beachcombing for sea tumbled glass pieces that she uses on her cards.