Our region’s local indie shops come in all shapes and sizes to make the foodie retail scene an exciting one
AFTER RECENT REPORTS THAT CONSUMERS COULD WELL BE FACING HIKED PRICES ON SOME IMPORTED INGREDIENTS WHEN WE LEAVE THE EU, WE’VE BEEN LOOKING AT HOW WE COULD ALL BENEFIT FROM CHANGING OUR SHOPPING HABITS... Compare many of our streets with themselves 50 years ago, and you might notice something’s gone missing. That something is retail, with neighbourhood grocery shops fewer and further between than they once were. Supermarkets have reshaped the way we shop. Time-strapped punters look to them for smashing out a quick shop at minimum cost between finishing work and cooking dinner. Hey, convenience is great – we have lives to live. Thing is, our shopping habits
can have more of an impact on said lives than we might realise. Chris Edwards is founder of Good 60, an online platform for local, independent retailers to sell their food and drink. He’s driven by the idea that money spent in small businesses is 60-percent more beneficial to the local community then if it were spent at a supermarket. It’s about “driving money back into your local community, which will help our streets in Bristol and Bath remain diverse
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and independent,” he says. “I’ve lived near Bristol’s Gloucester Road all my life and, after a bit of a decline, I’ve seen a new surge in support for its independent retailers. I think locals have seen what can happen to high streets when shoppers are lured to outof-town veg box schemes and supermarkets.”
ALL CHANGE
The way that we shop is constantly evolving – life doesn’t follow the familiar routine that
