RURAL RETAILER

Rural Retailer www.ruralshops.org.uk

Issue 27 l Autumn 2014

The Journal of the Rural Shops Alliance

Keeping a queue smiling

Your contacts... ew rn ou ess te dr no ad s e al ea st Pl po

for more information and news...

● Rural Shops Alliance 20 Garland, Rothley Leics. LE7 7RF ● Tel: 01305 752044 ● E-mail: info@ruralshops.org.uk ● Website: www.ruralshops.org.uk

Contents...

3 ● 5 ● In this issue...

Cover photo: Queueing... It’s the experience that matters - See the article beginning on page 24

In my opinion, By RSA Chief Executive Your Action Checklist / Tobacco display option

6 ● 12 ●

Wellington: A 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle

14 ● 15 ●

The Post Office Community Branch Fund

15

Assaults on shop staff, National minimum wage,

RSA National Meeting: Predictions for 10 years time RSA Views: Postcode Lottery versus Decentralisation, Broadband: “To those who have, more shall be given”

19 ● 23 ●

Trading on Sunday

24 ● 27 ●

Queueing: It’s the experience that matters

28 ● 30 ●

The Tobacco Market: Change is on the way

31 ●

Trading standards laws: Alcohol, Tobacco – What’s next?

What has the internet ever done for the village store?

A beacon to the future – electronic devices The Automated Tobacco Gantry

RuralRetailer ● Published by The Rural Shops Alliance. ● Printed by: Russell Press, Nottingham. ● Design: Kavita Graphics. dennis@kavitagraphics.co.uk

2 RuralRetailer ● Autumn 2014 ● Issue 27

In my Opinion...

Deciding the colour of your political coffee Historically, which supermarket to use or which brand of tea cake to buy has not been seen as an overtly political decision. That may be about to change.

After the recent referendum, some of Scotland’s 45% yes voters have made it clear they are not happy with the result.

A new campaign group, ‘The 45’, has released a list of brands, businesses and media organisations that they will be boycotting because they “scared Scotland” in the run up to the referendum.

On Facebook, the campaign group has suggested, “Never again can we have companies we use every day….tell us we’re too small, too poor and too stupid.” A company as Scottish as Tunnocks is on the banned list.

Asda, John Lewis, Waitrose, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Iceland are among the supermarkets that have faced their wrath, after saying food prices might rise in an independent Scotland. We can only hope that such a boycott would switch extra sales to independent retailers, most of whom kept a diplomatic silence on the issue.

Republicans. The app may be developed to include information on how companies treat their employees, for example.

At one level, it is just an extension of customers buying FairTrade or boycotting Israeli fruit. But it is also a useful reminder that shopping is an emotional as well as a practical activity. It does also have a slightly sinister aspect.

If business people are discouraged from entering politics because of a possible backlash, then we will all be the poorer for it. Parliament desperately needs more people who have actually run companies and created wealth, not fewer.

Kenneth Parsons

Now from America, the same mixing of politics and shopping has gone a stage further. There is a new app called BuyPartisan. You scan a barcode using an iPhone’s camera, and get a report back on donations made to political parties by the directors and staff of the company involved.

Partisans can then demonstrate their support by boycotting firms of the wrong political persuasion.

Sarah Palin may have to change her coffee shop and computer on finding out that the directors of both Starbucks and Apple give far more donations to the Democrats than to the

Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 3

Our Partners and sponsors...

To obtain further information on any of these companies, please contact the RSA at info@ruralshops.org.uk or phone 01305 752044 4 RuralRetailer â—? Autumn 2014 â—? Issue 27

Your Action Checklist for this issue...

1. REVIEW RESPONSE TO LONG TERM CHALLENGES 2. CONSIDER APPLICATION TO PO COMMUNITY FUND, IF ELIGIBLE 3. CONSIDER SUNDAY TRADING ARRANGEMENTS 4. GET MORE INFORMATION ON RSA WEBSITE PACKAGE 5. MANAGE QUEUES BETTER 6. REVIEW TOBACCO DISPLAY APPROACH FOR APRIL 2015

p p p p p p

SEE PAGE 12 SEE PAGE 14 SEE PAGE 19 SEE PAGE 23 SEE PAGE 24 SEE PAGE 30

CIGARETTES – GOING DARK ...

A DISPLAY OPTION YOU MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED It is vital that tobacco retailers start planning how they are going to respond to the tobacco display ban, coming into force for stores under 3,000sq.ft. (280m2) in April 2015. When Ireland went dark, there were some horrific sights as some retailers responded at the very last minute, covering their gantries with whatever came to hand. Particularly for retailers with a significant tobacco business, this is the time to decide on the right way forward, without being tied to the historical approach of display gantries, which were designed for a totally different trading regime.

One way forward is to replace the gantry with an automated machine operated by staff. This is obviously a big step but it can make a lot of sense. It overcomes much of the hassle of flaps and doors, whilst ensuring that you are in an excellent position if standardised packaging does come into force in the next couple of

years. It can also liberate valuable selling space behind the counter for other ranges. In addition, Ian Hughes of Bluefin Insurance has pointed out the security advantages of this type of system and the possibility of obtaining a reduction in insurance premium as a result.

The RSA have partnered with the Cherwell Group, a leading supplier of this type of equipment. We strongly believe that this is an option that it is well worth considering for many tobacco retailers, particularly for those who now own their gantries outright and are faced with paying their own conversion costs.

■ See page 30 for more details.

Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 5

Wellington...

A 1,000 piece jigsaw When the good people of Wellington in rural Herefordshire were asked to give their Parish Council permission to borrow £250,000 to build a village shop, their resounding ‘yes’ was down to the reputation of one man. Now, five years after the original village shop closed, the community is the proud owner of a spanking new building housing its new shop, parish room and library, which opened in June. And the hero of the hour is the shop’s tenant manager Rob Ruck, ably supported by the Parish Council whose extraordinary determination and enthusiasm to get the whole village on-side won the day.

Parish Council chairman Jenni Gowan says: “When we eventually put our proposals to the community, with people crowded into the hall knowing they would have to pay for it through their council tax, it was clear that they overwhelmingly supported the idea because they knew Rob was going to run the shop.”

Turnover has increased threefold since the new Wellington Delights shop opened with 85 square metres of sales space, and, now, at 48 years old, Rob says he is a man perfectly content. “This is my perfect job, it’s a bit like a calling,” he says.

“Communities are like 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles, and I love being at the heart of it all, being an essential bit in the middle, not just a corner piece. I remember the parish meeting well; it was pouring with rain, the council put out 30 chairs and 300 people turned up. One The temporary accommodation occupied before the move to the shop’s permanent location

The original shop was named after a local character, Betty Swallox, and was housed in part of a house

The new shop in Wellington

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By Beth Whittaker

puzzle Rob serving at the Post Office Local counter

chap stood up right at the start and said, ‘I only want to know two things: how much will it cost me a month, and is Rob going to run the shop?’

I admit it was a very emotional meeting.”

Jenni admits that when the original shop and Post Office closed, it was a tremendous shock.

“Luckily the local Makin farming brothers offered us a barn as a temporary shop and Rob took over the running of it three years ago and started working his magic. As a Parish Council we knew we needed to do something drastic and the only way we were going to have a permanent shop again was for us to build our own. We started working on our plans for a building to include the shop and PO, a parish meeting room and library, but there were lots of delays which were out of our control. We were also being told there was no way a village shop would turn a profit, enough to pay someone to take it on.

hard and it’s all paying off. For a village of only 1,000 people, half a mile off the main road to Hereford, it’s extraordinary how busy the shop is, every day.”

Finding a site for the shop in the small village was a challenge until the Wellington Chapel offered a 99-year lease on a strip of land, which also happened to be on a floodplain. But thanks to endless risk assessments and negotiations with the Environment Agency, that massive loan (to be paid back from council tax payments amounting to only pence per week per parishioner over the next 20 years), plus the rent Rob pays for the shop, and various grants, the plans became a reality.

Jenni adds: “We just knew we had to keep a shop going in the village, it was a huge challenge, and we worked extremely hard over more than five years to make it happen, taking the community along with us every step of the way. If the shop ever fails, we have an asset in the building which can be used for many things, but with Rob at the helm, we are confident in the long-term future of our shop.”

“But those delays allowed Rob the time to really get to know the community and build up the trust of the locals. He is just brilliant with people, that’s the nub of it, and although he doesn’t live in the village, he knows everything about it and everyone in it. He has worked very The modern premises are light and airy

Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 7

Wellington...continued

Treat corner

A former lorry driver, Rob’s previous retail experience consisted of running a small independent newsagents in Hereford town. “It wasn’t a great success but I discovered I just loved getting to know the customers. That was the best bit of the business,” he recalls. “One day, one of my regular customers who used to tell me her troubles after her frequent visits to the doctor, told me I was needed up at Wellington because their village shop was closing. She said they needed someone like me to take it on. I went up to the village and found the temporary shop in an old cobwebbed barn.

Pat Gordon of Growing Local delivering bags of fresh produce to Rob at the shop

8 RuralRetailer ● Autumn 2014 ● Issue 27

Shop is quite spaceous

It was closed, so I knocked on the unit next door and asked the local chap – who, it turns out, was an old friend from years back - what the problem was with the shop. It came down to mysterious opening times, high prices and no real relationship with the shopkeeper.

“I told the farmer, Dick Makin, I was interested in taking on the challenge, and gave him my phone number. He said he needed to think about it, but then he called me three times before I got home! I haven’t looked back.” One of Rob’s talents is a rare gift for remembering names. “When I meet someone, I make sure I remember their names, what they like, what they don’t like. That makes a huge difference and defines a village shop compared to an anonymous supermarket. I listen to people’s

The off licence section provides temptation for the P.O. queue

Booker leaflets vie for attention with local produce

woes, and share their happy times. I know what’s going on and help people out, give directions and make suggestions. People who have moved into the village have told me it made an impact on their decision. People like to have a village shop; it is an essential part of a sustainable rural community.

Rob admits that there were moments of concern when the new shop was due to open its doors.

“It’s one thing making a success of a small shop in an old barn; moving into new premises was scary because of the responsibility. It has to be a profitable business; it has to pay me and my staff. But I stuck to what I know about the village, what people want, from the older people who like a natter while they shop to the youngsters picking their sweets from the 50p mix – everyone is different, although old and young alike are big fans of the new whippy ice cream maker!

“I make sure I go to all the village events and various organisations in the parish. People know they can approach me, and I listen to what they want. My wife Ann and I get invited to people’s birthdays and celebrations in the village, and one of us always tries to pop in. When we were still in the barn, the children from the local school came and did a maths lesson in the shop – and they chose the name of the new shop: Wellington Delights!”

The smart van helps to promote the business

“I try to put myself in my customers’ shoes and think what they might need. For example, when the local mums take their children swimming, on the way home they know they can pop in for a couple of pies for a quick supper. You have to always be listening and tuning in to what people need. Keeping a large range of items in stock saves people having to visit the supermarkets. A customer came in one day complaining about having to go to Hereford for three things – I mentioned that we stocked all three (despite them not being everyday items) so he’s shopping here now! Many people have stopped going into town for their weekly shop; they say: “why sit in traffic when you have everything we want?”

Fresh fruit, veg, honey and meat are all sourced locally, with plans to install a new bake-off oven.

Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 9

Wellington...continued well, I’d never get a single moment’s peace!” says Rob, with an affectionate grimace.

Although the long opening hours (Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm, Sunday 8am to 1pm with a view to extend to 4pm) would suggest that much of Rob’s time is actually spent in Wellington, although he does employ five part time staff.

Pleasant outside seating area

“We are teaming up with Growing Local - a local non-profit organisation - which is supplying us with veggie bags. Customers can order their bags at the shop then they are delivered to us for them to collect. It supports local producers, helps to cut down on waste and food miles and supports the local economy. Growing Local educates at least 100 classes of children every year to eat more local fruit and vegetables.”

New benches and an attractive green space around the building, alongside parking, add to the attraction.

Anthony Bush from Herefordshire Council, who helped the parish with its plans, said: “This is a fantastic example of how a Parish Council can show great courage and leadership in supporting its community and save its shop and Post Office.

It was a very brave thing to do as, despite getting grants of around £40,000 from various channels, the scheme required a very large Public Works Loan. It was essential that the council took the local community with it at every stage and found the right commercial partner and it took a lot of determination and energy. They achieved this and Rob seems to tick all the boxes as the Parish Council’s ideal business tenant.”

■ For a full timeline of how Wellington Parish Council saved its village shop, visit: http://newsroom.herefordshire.gov.uk/2014/ july/parish-council-spotlight-the-story-of-the -new-wellington-shop.aspx ■ Details of Public Works Loan Board can be found at: http://www.dmo.gov.uk/index.aspx? page=PWLB/Introduction ■ Information on Growing Local can be found at: www.growinglocal.org.uk

Local products

Rob’s wife Ann also works in the village, but they have decided not to move into Wellington from their home in Hereford. “Much as I love my customers, and the village, if I lived here as Traditional building materials highlight the entrance

10 RuralRetailer ● Autumn 2014 ● Issue 27

RSA NATIONAL MEETING

Predictions for 10 The whole of the last National Meeting held by the RSA was devoted to discussions about the way the rural convenience store sector is likely to change over the next 5 to 10 years….

business to get established. For example, sophisticated vending machines could be a way to provide 24/7 shopping – or come to nothing.

At present e-cigarettes look set for explosive growth, but this could easily be curtailed by changes in the way they are regulated.

With a mix of participants from industry suppliers, local authorities and rural shopkeepers, there were a good range of views expressed. Coming to conclusions was a tall order. It is relatively straightforward to extrapolate from existing trends but certainly 10 years is long enough for a whole new pattern of

The conclusions do at times differ markedly from the extrapolations published by other organisations, but then, few have the temerity to try to predict this far ahead! The following are the main points that came out of the meeting; they do not represent a comprehensive analysis of the rural shop situation.

CUSTOMERS IN 2024

PRODUCT CATEGORIES BY 2024 WINNERS

● The social value of rural shops will remain very important to local communities ● Shopping becomes more classless – shopping at Aldi and Lidl stays socially acceptable ● Increasing interest in healthy eating, fresh and local produce ● Aging rural population – convenience is important

● Chilled foods ● Food to go ● Bread & cakes

DOWN THE MIDDLE ● ● ● ●

Off licence ● Pet food Frozen foods ● Ambient groceries Confectionery ● Household Financial services

● The population will continue to use technology more – tablets, smart phones etc.

LOSERS

● Growth in real incomes – likely to be muted

● Tobacco ● Stationery

● Demand for service when they want it continues – pressure for longer opening hours

WILD CARD

● Home delivery – set to rise still further

● E-Cigarettes

12 RuralRetailer ● Autumn 2014 ● Issue 27

● Fresh fruit & vegetables ● Local Produce ● Health & beauty

● News & magazines ● Post Office

years time TRENDS ● Post Office in long term decline unless government gives it a role. End of current agreement with Royal Mail in 8 years’ time seen as a crunch point. Unless it finds a role, the Post Office won’t need to exist. ● Wholesalers are not providing well for the sector.

There are too many companies in market – need consolidation of buying power to match the multiples. They do not fully understand the need of retailers for £ profit as well as fighting for turnover.

● Multiple retailers will continue to encroach into larger settlements in rural areas with their convenience formats ● Closure of rural shops has slowed (many of the weak ones have already closed). ● Not many small chains of shops emerging – owner manager with one shop will remain the normal model ● Supermarket price wars will put pressure on margins for smaller shops

● Symbol groups will continue to grow, definitely the way forward

● The current slow rate of opening of new Community owned shops will continue

TYPE OF OUTLET 2024

WHAT GOVERNMENT COULD DO TO HELP THE SECTOR

WINNERS

● If government insists on pushing up the National Minimum Wage faster than inflation (to the Living Wage?), then there should be a quid pro quo to offset the cost.

● On-line ● Discounters ● Specialist retailers

DOWN THE MIDDLE ● Convenience stores

LOSERS ● Superstores

● Smaller supermarkets

● The whole system of Business rates relief needs to be overhauled ● Costs need to be kept in check – the government needs to really reduce red tape ● A lot more affordable houses need to be built in many rural communities if services are to continue

WILD CARD ● Vending machines

● Energy costs for business users need to be kept under control Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 13

Post Offices...

The Post Office Community Branch Fund Launched in July, the £20 million Post Office Community Branch Fund is already starting to help postmasters right across the country improve their branches; and over 100 have already applied for funding.

The fund is available to those branches that have been designated as either a Community Branch or are an ‘outreach’ service such as a mobile Post Office. The Post Office recognises that these branches, often operating in the last shop in the village and in more isolated parts of the UK, can be a lifeline for their local communities. It is encouraging postmasters to apply for funding to help boost their businesses and make them more likely to succeed in the long term.

Postmasters can use the funding for a variety of improvements - this could be new signage, integrating the Post Office into the retail operation so customers only have to queue once for their shop purchases and Post Office transactions, new flooring, lighting or to improve access to the branch. But there’s no ‘approved’ list and postmasters are encouraged to come up with their own ideas for investment.

■ Postmasters who are eligible for funding, can find the application form at: www.postofficecommunityfund.co.uk The form is simple and can be completed online. Applicants just need to set out what changes they want to make and how much they

14 RuralRetailer ● Autumn 2014 ● Issue 27

think these will cost; they also need to show how and why they think the investment will help them develop their business.

Applicants can expect to hear within 28 days if they’ve been successful. If an application isn’t approved the first time however, the Post Office will work with the postmaster to review it, and help them succeed the next time.

Once their application has been approved, the postmaster will receive an offer letter outlining the amount of funding the Post Office will provide. They can then go ahead with the agreed works and the Post Office will make their payment after they have sent in the invoices.

(The Post Office aims to make payments within 21 days.)

■ Postmasters with further questions, or who would like to talk through their ideas with someone, can call the Post Office on 0845 266 8790.

RSAViews Autumn 2014

Postcode Lottery versus Decentralisation After the Scottish independence vote, all the talk is of devolution and decentralisation.

Various local dignitaries are suggesting that they know far better what their local populations need, the implication being that central government is totally out of touch.

The first point to make is that devolving power gives those receiving it the chance to succeed but also the chance to fail. There is no guarantee that the results will be any better than what went before. Inevitably, local decision-making has to be about allocating scarce resources in a different way from the past. There will be winners and losers. The losers will inevitably shout “postcode lottery” and ask for special treatment.

In the case of support for rural shops, the experience is actually in favour of centralisation. Back in the days of the Rural Development Commission, there was an effective national scheme to support the rural shop sector with training, advice and targeted grants. Overall, the budget was tiny by government standards but it was used very effectively. This broad thrust was carried on by its successor organisation, the Countryside Agency.

However, a reorganisation then led to support for the rural shop sector passing to the Regional Development Agencies. Each one then spent a great deal of time producing its regional strategy, with rural businesses in general and shops in particular hardly featuring amidst the grand plans. The two honourable exceptions were the south-west and south-east RDAs, both of which did have schemes to support the sector.

As is the way, the RDAs had hardly settled into their headquarter buildings when they too were abolished, to

be replaced by Local Economic Partnerships. These organisations again set their own local priorities, but as far as we are aware, rural retailing features not at all.

There is a very varied situation with county councils, district councils and unitary authorities. Some are very supportive of rural retailers, some not at all.

At a countrywide level, both Wales and Scotland have provided far more support for rural retailers than has been available in England. Both the Scottish and Welsh assemblies have used funds to ensure that essential services, particularly post offices in the case of Wales and petrol filling stations in the case of Scotland, have remained in place in rural locations.

Decentralisation has its costs as well as its benefits. On many issues – supporting rural retailers is one – the problems and opportunities are pretty well the same across the entire country.

It therefore makes no sense at all to delegate responsibilities and decision-making to a range of local organisations, since this loses all economies of scale and much of the funding gets absorbed in local bureaucracies, each one progressing at a different rate down the learning curve and each with its own policies and procedures to do essentially the same job.

There are times when centralisation is no bad thing.

RSAViews

Assaults on shop staff – The law needs tightening The sale of age restricted products such as tobacco and alcohol puts shop staff in a peculiar position. They have a legal duty to enforce laws on behalf of the state, with stringent punishments if they fail. At the same time, unlike police officers or even traffic wardens, the public does not see them in any special light.

This can make their role very difficult indeed customers do not necessarily accept their legitimacy or authority to apply the law. This can be made worse when the customer is already drunk, or where the assistant is female, young or from an ethnic minority.

Speaking at the CitizenCard fringe meeting at the recent

Labour Party Conference, Karen Whitefield, USDAW Campaigns Officer, commented, “‘More than 300 shop workers are assaulted every day whilst simply doing their job. Often those assaults are caused by age identification and underage people illegally attempting to buy restricted products, like alcohol and cigarettes. So we very much support the CitizenCard, which provides a robust age identification card that helps take the guesswork out of applying the law”.

The problem is probably more acute in urban areas than it is in rural shops. However, the RSA believes that government policies have placed shop workers in this position and has a moral duty to support them with the force of the law.

The current Government has so far rejected a Protection of Workers Bill that would provide stiffer penalties for those who assault shop workers. It is only right that when Parliament expects shop workers to enforce the law on age-restricted sales, Parliament should provide robust protections for them.

In October, Lords Fowlkes of Cumnock has tabled an amendment in the House of Lords to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to provide more support for shop workers selling alcohol. The RSA hopes when this bill is debated and voted upon at the report stage, that the government will support the measure.

Clearly no legislation can completely prevent incidents of intimidation, threats and actual violence against shop workers, but this measure could go some way towards improving the situation.

RSAViews

The RSA calls for the national minimum wage to remain non-political Perhaps predictably, there have been calls at the recent Labour Party conference for the National Minimum Wage (NMW) to be raised to £8 per hour. For an opposition party, launching an attack on the level of the NMW is a tempting target, given its vote-attracting potential. It is, however, a temptation that responsible politicians should resist.

Historically, Parliament has decided that setting the NMW is a task best made objectively and at arm’s length. We therefore have a Low Pay Commission charged with taking evidence and then advising a wage level that is the best compromise between competing demands. Their remit for 2015 is to “aim to have national minimum wage rates that help as many lowpaid workers as possible, whilst making sure that we do not damage their employment prospects”. The RSA, along with many other organisations, provides objective evidence to help the Commissioners in their difficult task. Over the years, both employers and employees had respected this process and accepted the results , whether or not they liked them.

The problem of low pay is actually concentrated in particular industries, most characterised by the fact that wages make up a high proportion of total costs and there are low staff entry requirements. Retail is traditionally a low wage sector, employing large numbers of relatively unskilled staff. Nevertheless, wages make up a high proportion of the cost of running most shops.

Many retail businesses pay newly joined staff at the National Minimum Wage, with subsequent increments for additional experience and responsibility. Hence changing the rate affects their whole pay structure, including the pay of staff who actually receive significantly more than the basic rate.

In the rural shop sector, a high proportion of staff live very close to where they work. They often work parttime, with hours that fit around other commitments, such as childcare or college. The work is not unpleasant. This means that these jobs are actually

quite attractive and only seldom do rural retailers have difficulty recruiting staff. There is no pot of gold from which to pay higher wages; business owners themselves are often working long hours for far less than the NMW. The National Minimum Wage by its very nature is a “one size fits all” figure. It cannot take into account local circumstances – it is national – or businesses where more ought to be paid – it is a legal minimum.

Politicians have every right to call for average wage rates in the economy to rise, but to compromise the objectivity of the Low Pay Commission in setting the National Minimum Wage would be totally wrong. It is their job to decide how high the NMW can go without killing jobs, a tightrope they are far better equipped to walk than any politician with an agenda.

It is a legitimate political objective to improve the lot of low paid workers. This should be done in other ways, such as through industry wage boards (all abolished) rather than interfering with something that is proven to work well over many years.

RSAViews

“To those who have, more shall be given” The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is operating a grant scheme to enable small businesses in 22 cities to upgrade their Internet connection. This led the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, to comment, “Superfast broadband is of vital importance for small businesses – many of who consider it to be just as crucial as gas, electricity and water”.

Sue Terpilowski OBE, of the Federation of Small Businesses, has said: “For many London businesses, broadband speed and availability is fast becoming the major infrastructural conundrum…... more businesses in the capital need to take advantage of the scheme as five per cent of London’s population will still operate with a 2Mbps connection in the year 2017.”

These comments will raise a wry smile from hundreds of thousands of rural businesses. There are hundreds of thousands of them, including many rural shopkeepers, who would be absolutely delighted to have even a 2Mbps connection.

Upload speeds of a third of a megabyte are not uncommon in much of rural Britain, where the Internet

connection is a vulnerable copper wire, insulated from its neighbour by thin paper and clustered into a lead sheath to keep water out, installed decades ago.

Constable could probably paint the Hay Wain in less time than it would take to transmit it electronically!

High-speed broadband has the same benefits for datahungry SMEs whether they are in central London or down a rural track. It is bizarre for the government to be subsidising businesses with the potential to access superfast broadband, whereas great swathes of the country still have no idea if and when they are ever going to get it.

Money and technical resources are clearly available. It should be spent on accelerating the provision of a decent broadband speed to the entire country, rather than subsidising selected urban businesses. Or, at the very least, access to the voucher scheme should be opened up to the entire country.

The government’s own guidance to departments on how to “rural proof” their activities does highlight poor Internet connections as a real barrier to rural growth. It would seem that this particular grant scheme did not have to address this test. David Cameron has frequently emphasised the importance of Broadband speeds, although his own fairly rural constituency of Whitney does enjoy a fast broadband service. However, a business in Witney is outside the scheme, whereas a direct competitor a few miles away in Oxford can benefit from the grant.

We would like to see DEFRA stand up for the rural interest on this issue and persuade their colleagues in the Dept. for Culture, Media and Sport that good Broadband is equally important all over the country, not just for favoured cities.

Sunday Trading...

By Helen Gregory

Trading on Sunday Dean Holborn extended his Sunday opening hours from 7am-1pm to 7am-5pm soon after buying the village store in South Nutfield, Surrey, and is now considering shutting up shop an hour later still. “Closing early meant other jobs weren’t being done on Sunday so we were rushing to refill shelves on Monday morning,” he explains.

Meanwhile, Graham Brown, of Blagdon Post Office and Stores in Somerset, is really ‘open all hours’, from 8am-8pm, reasoning that because shoppers expect to get services 24-7, it’s an easy trading message to let them know he is open at the same time, seven days a week.

Adds Brown: “People are fickle and might go somewhere else if there’s a chance you won’t be open.”

Other stores open every Sunday but change their hours depending on the seasons and weather. Phillip Mason, who owns Mason Bros. in the Yorkshire Dales village of Hawes, closes at 5pm in the winter and 4pm in summer. On dank January and February afternoons, he can shut up shop at 1pm. Says Mason: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with changing the hours – as long as you give people plenty of notice.”

Dean Holburn’s shop opens all day on Sunday

This convenience store in a village with a lot of passing trade opens 24hrs a day, including Sundays

Footfall in small shops tends to peak between 7-10am and 4-8pm on Sunday, according to the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) – precisely when the supermarkets are shut. As current trading laws mean the big boys are only open between 10am and 4pm, most small shops are making the most of their Sabbath advantage; in rural locations it’s an increasingly busy trading day. Most newsagents are open on Sundays, while Sunday trading is hugely important to larger convenience stores, with many opening from 7am to 10pm even on Sundays.

Rural stores still enjoy reasonable margins on the more hefty and expensive Sunday papers, which can make up to a quarter or even a third of turnover, particularly for stores with delivery rounds. Mason at Mason Bros reports that

Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 19

Sunday Trading...continued newspaper sales are still healthy, and that some customers are simply choosing cheaper papers such as the Sunday Mail, rather than broadsheets. And Brown at Blagdon Stores reports that these margins make Sunday his second best trading day after Saturday. “The customer flow is slower but basket sizes are higher,” he says.

Sundays can be a much busier day than weekdays, says Sally Gibbons, at Lealholm Village Shop near Whitby. The shop sells much of the same things on Sunday, but to different customers: those working in the week and tourists. For Holborn, Sunday is as busy as any other day, just with relaxed croissant and paperbuyers instead of schoolchildren.

As sales can more than cover their wages, most retailers are happy to pay staff to come in although it’s often a different team of people than on weekdays. Plenty of owners join them, sometimes because it’s harder to hire staff.

Says Gibbons: “People round here think they are doing you a favour by working on Sunday. Plus we would rather take Tuesday off when it’s less busy.” Adds Holborn: “We use more students on Sunday alongside one senior member of staff. I don’t really want to be there but usually go in

Supermarket carparks fill up quickly on Sundays

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Supermarkets were allowed to open longer hours for the summer of the Olympics

for an hour most Sundays – I’d rather do that than come in and find a problem the next day.”

For many, the Sabbath is their only chance of a lie-in. While Lealholm Village Shop doesn’t open until 10am on a Sunday, Gibbons is unrepentant when shoppers – particular holidaymakers – show surprise. “We don’t shut for lunch and I don’t think we’d gain a great deal from opening longer,” she says. “We do a lot for the local community - sometimes I think people forget we have a life too.”

Some rural shops don’t have a choice whether or not to open: Post Office branches operating under the Local contract, for example, are required to open for the same hours as the host shop. Almost 60% of its 3,000 modernised post offices are open on Sundays, reports a Post Office spokeswoman. “Sunday opening is not a requirement but the majority of postmasters

who run new-style Local post offices open on Sunday…because it is proving popular with customers.”

But for others it’s simply, ‘Never on Sunday’.

Jempsons chain of village stores in East Sussex is resolutely opposed to Sunday opening and a keen supporter of the Keep Sunday Special campaign.

Says a spokesman: “Family time is important and we will never open on a Sunday. All our stores are open late at night and that’s sufficient time for people to shop.”

The Keep Sunday Special campaign quotes two highly successful multiple retailers who see the bigger picture and who can take the longer view.

Justin King, until recently chief executive of Sainsbury’s: “Our customers aren’t asking for it.

I’ve never had a letter from a customer saying,

The RSA view The Sunday Trading Act is 20 years old this year and has proved to be a good compromise between competing interests. In practice, it represents a small but useful tilt of the playing field in favour of smaller shops, balancing out to a limited degree the advantages conferred on larger stores in other ways. Certainly for many of the rural retailers opening even for a few hours, Sunday is a crucial trading day.

The law as it currently stands only allows stores over 3,000sq. ft. (280m2) to open for six hours on a Sunday, with most opting to open between 10am and 4pm. The Sunday trading regulations were relaxed for these stores during the 2012 Olympics and there have been recent rumblings about doing so permanently. Disappointing sales results recently from the likes of Asda and Morrison’s may well lead to increased pressure for

The religious argument for restricted Sunday trading becomes less powerful as church attendances decline

‘Please campaign for longer opening hours on Sunday’. Sir Stuart Rose, former Marks and Spencer chairman recently said of Sunday trading: “The fact of the matter is you simply spread the same amount of business over a longer period, but with more operating costs.

It’s a zero sum game. Besides, if you can’t do your shopping in the time already available, what hope is there?”

Parliament to relax the current constraints on their Sunday opening hours.

However, it is highly unlikely there will be any changes to the law during the life of the current parliament.

Although there is no massive pent-up demand from customers for a change, even a modest switch of sales on Sunday from small stores to their larger competitors could have a significant impact on profitability.

Certainly the RSA’s advice is that in 2014 the vast majority of convenience stores need to open hours that are convenient for their customers. In this 24/7 world, that does include some Sunday opening, even if it is just a couple of hours for Sunday papers. Usually the level of sales are high enough to justify employing staff, meaning that this does not mean shopkeepers sacrificing their one day off in the week.

Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 21

Websites...

What has the internet ever done for the village store?

By Roy Griffiths, Creative Solutions

Community Information

Perhaps the better question is “What has the village store ever done for the internet?”.

– This aspect of the website can present a challenge with its potential to provide a mass of local information on clubs, bus times, church info, events, parish news, village history, class ads, local businesses, schools. The main issue is producing and maintaining up to date information. The answer is to seek out a volunteer/s to assist with this aspect of the website – unless you have a passion for this yourself! It is also possible to charge for certain aspects of the website such as business listings and event promotions – especially attractive if the advertiser knows that you have a database of villagers that you can send an email to at short notice.

Whilst some stores have harnessed the opportunities presented by the World Wide Web, many shopkeepers have struggled to see how it could make a difference to their business.

The typical village store already plays a crucial role in village life. So there is a massive opportunity to present your unique offer on the internet through a web presence that covers the two main aspects of your village role – store goods & services and community information.

Store Goods & Services – a modern updateable website provides a very straightforward platform to update as often as daily with special offers, limited availability products, special store events (Valentines / Easter / Christmas etc), competitions, pre-order collection services as well as basic contact information and opening times.

The website can also be used to harvest email addresses for the store database. A relevant opted-in email list is a very powerful tool for promoting your special offers, invites or notices – there are plenty of free database maintenance programs such as ‘Mailchimp’ that make database management quite straightforward.

There really is a tremendous amount that the village store can do for the internet. At the same time, you can do a lot to promote yourself and your store offer to your customers.

Creative Solutions is the web design and internet marketing provider to the Rural Shops Alliance.

Our special deal, of a professionally produced basic website plus one year’s hosting for just £95 plus VAT is still available.

Email gary.hepburn@ruralshops.org.uk for more details.

Issue 26 ● Summer 2014 ● RuralRetailer 23

Queueing...

It’s the experience that Market research consistently shows that pleasant and efficient service is one of the key strengths that customers value in rural convenience stores. One aspect of this for many people is quick service and short waiting times. A convenience store has to be convenient.

None of us like to queue in shops, but at times it is a fact of life. If it happens, it is important to manage it properly. The major multiples pay considerable attention to queue management, for example, by opening more checkouts once queues reach a certain length. For independent retailers, the problem cannot be reduced to a simple formula in the same way, but at the same time there are ways to make queueing less onerous for customers.

THE NATURE OF THE WAIT Academic research on the psychology of queueing confirms that the nature of the wait can be more significant than the actual length of time. Here are a few research pointers:

Keep people occupied “A watched pot never boils”, or, in a more modern context, “a watched computer never boots”. Provide customers with a distraction whilst they wait, ideally something that interests or entertains them. They will then feel the wait is shorter and much less annoying. Disney makes the experience part of the entertainment, by providing their visitors with interactive media and photos to preview the experience ahead.

Start the transaction People need to feel that they are “in the system”, that their transaction has commenced.

Some restaurants provide customers with a menu and serve a drink whilst they wait – diners feel their experience has started.

Reduce causes of anxiety Customers in a long queue at a cinema may need to be told that there will be seats left for the film they want to see. Being anxious in this way makes the queueing experience far more stressful than it would otherwise be.

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matters Finite waits are less stressful Many delicatessen counters have a system whereby customers take a number ticket and wait until that number appears on screen before they are served. They know exactly how many people are ahead of them in the queue and that they will be served in turn even if they browse other merchandise.

A promotional gondola end by the queue can help to introduce customers to own label or local products

Waiting needs to be fair Most people have a very deep-rooted sense of fairness and are affronted and uncomfortable when the perceived rules are uncertain or are broken. When there is no clear structure, such as milling around the doors to enter a lift, people get stressed.

QUEUES IN CONVENIENCE STORES – THE BASICS Try to avoid having queues at all. It is blindingly obvious to schedule more staff to be available at peak times, such as late afternoon. Similarly, it should be policy that when there is a long

queue, staff should abandon filling up or other tasks to serve customers.

At busy times, staff should try to speed up transactions as much as possible, without being too brusque or appearing rude, even when a customer wants to chat despite the queue behind them. Staff can be trained to simultaneously exchange pleasantries with a customer whilst at the same time efficiently completing their transaction. There is nothing more frustrating to a queue than an inefficient assistant who stops to chat with the person they are serving.

Balancing telephone calls with the physical queue It is sometimes necessary to balance the requirements of people telephoning the store with those of customers standing in front of the counter, particularly when often the same member of staff is dealing with both. It is hard to know which is more irritating for customers, waiting in front of the counter whilst the assistant deals with a long phone call, or telephoning the store only to be kept on hold for several minutes.

Customers prefer to queue in one line even with two cash points.

Flowers make an interesting display and an attractive impulse purchase

Some stores merely leave the answerphone on all day – not ideal. Never just let the telephone ring and ring – at the very least have an answerphone

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Queueing...continued message explaining to callers that staff are busy serving customers but you will return the call as soon as possible if they leave a message. Serving customers whilst at the time same time speaking on the phone can be really annoying, although younger customers in particular are happy to dis the assistant in this way. If it has to happen, staff need to make eye contact with their customer and mouth an apology. Most customers will understand and forgive quite a lot if you make an effort to acknowledge them.

Two serving points, one queue A lot of organisations, for example, main post offices, have moved towards a single queue feeding multiple serving points, a system seen by customers to be fairer and therefore less stressful. If space allows, this is a good model to adopt.

Two till points, one assistant This usually occurs where the Post Office counter is next to the shop counter and one assistant is serving both. A Post Office spokesperson said: “In new style local branches, postmasters are able to combine Post Office and retail services rather than run a separate Post Office counter in their shops. With Post Office training for retail assistants, these new combi-counters increase staff efficiency enabling one person able to carry out both Post Office and retail transactions for customers, who wait in one line…”

If Post Office customers are effecting short transactions, there is no problem. The issue is the occasional customer whose business takes a long time, disrupting the normal fast flow of shop customers and causing the people in the queue behind them to lose the will to live. In extreme cases, customers will abandon their purchases if they see a motor dealer with 10 cars to tax or an e-Bayer with a pile of parcels ahead of them. This problem can be particularly acute at Christmas.There is no clear solution to

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Customers can become anxious about parking if they have to queue too long

the problem. The most obvious approach is to serve people strictly in the order they arrive, although this can be difficult for an assistant to track if there are two physical queues.

Sometimes it is in order to seek the PO customer’s permission to interrupt their business to clear the shop backlog of quick transactions.

An approach adopted by a small minority of shopkeepers is to do this routinely, to give priority to shop customers ahead of the post office users, on the basis that they are the more important to the profitability of the business and their transactions are quicker.

MANAGING QUEUES ■ Plan the store layout to accommodate efficient queueing. If the shop space and layout allows, one queue leading to multiple serving points is best.

■ Actively train staff on how to respond to queues if they develop – how long should a queue be before they buzz through for backup, when they should switch on the answerphone, how they should handle competing demands from different queues or type of transaction - post office, coffee shop and retail, for example.

■ Train staff to effect transactions quickly and efficiently without appearing brusque. They need to be both efficient and friendly – store sales depend on it.

■ Make the area where customers queue more interesting. This could involve a television or other screen, although the relatively small size of rural shops and the (hopefully) relatively short wait times involved are against this. The feed from security cameras may be entertaining but is undesirable on privacy grounds. Background music is another possibility (remember the necessary licences for these options).

■ There should always be interesting displays next to the queue – special offers, new lines or local products – to both entertain and provide important impulse sales. This space should be the most productive in the shop.

■ Posters can provide visual stimulation, for example, a sign with the address of the village and shop websites, together with Facebook and Twitter addresses, can fulfil a dual role.

■ Ensure customers know how they are expected to queue, unless it is obvious. For example, if they can approach the counter

A BEACON TO THE FUTURE? The type of beacon we are talking about is a very small electronic device. They sit next to a specific product instore. When a customer with a smartphone approaches the fixture, the beacon senses their presence and can then send a relevant message to their phone. So if the beacon senses the customer lingering at the biscuit fixture, for example, then the beacon might send them a voucher for money off a particular brand. There are obvious ways to make it more sophisticated, if it is linked to a customer database holding their past spending information and preferences.

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from either direction, provide signs or visual cues to make it clear what the rules are.

If there is a queue of three or four customers, then the assistant just calling down the line, “Sorry to keep you, I will serve you as quickly as possible” provides the acknowledgement and reassurance that people want. It can stop people abandoning their transaction and leaving.

If appropriate, let people know that their needs will be met. For example, “Don’t worry, the post-van doesn’t go until four o’clock, your mail will all catch it” provides real reassurance.

Have a clear policy on answering the telephone. Make sure all staff understand how it is expected to work.

If there are often queues in the store, consider installing more cash-taking points or employing more staff.

Would longer opening hours help reduce queuing?

Although several of these options involve extra costs, it is essential for a convenience store to actually be convenient. How you manage queuing is part of that mix.

This technology is already relatively cheap. It is almost certainly being trialled by many large retailers, although details are not necessarily being publicised. Londis and Tesco subsidiary One Stop are also piloting it. Given the benefits to the retailer, this is a technology that is going to get more sophisticated and widespread very quickly.

Although some older shoppers may baulk at the Big Brother aspects, younger shoppers are so used to living their lives in public through Facebook and the like that privacy will be far less of an issue for them.

We hope to run a longer article on this technology in the future. In the meantime, we would be interested to hear your views on it, to info@ruralshops.org.uk

Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 27

The Tobacco Market...

Change is on the way There are three separate but related legal changes in the offing which will affect the tobacco market ■ From April 6th 2015, existing legislation will compel all stores in England selling tobacco to “go dark”, with tobacco no longer allowed to be on open display. This already applies to stores over 3000 sq. ft.

■ The European Union has agreed a revised European tobacco packaging directive (ETPD), which all European governments will have to implement by mid-2016 at the latest. Aspects include larger pictorial health warnings on packs, a ban on some fancy styles of packs and also on promotion messages on pack. For retailers, the biggest changes will be a ban on packs with less than 20 cigarettes in them and also a ban on flavoured cigarettes, such as menthol.

■ The ETPD allows national governments to impose more stringent regulations. The UK government recently consulted (again!) on the introduction of standardised packaging for tobacco in the UK. The results of this consultation have not been announced at time of writing. It is likely that any regulations would be implemented at the same time as ETPD comes into force, so probably 2016.

The market for e-cigarettes continues to grow at a rapid pace. The potential of this market is highlighted by the fact that Imperial Tobacco has just spent a lot of money buying the marketleading American brand Blu. It is early days but the potential for customers to switch is obvious.

There is also uncertainty over how governments might start to regulate this market once it reaches a more significant size.

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TOBACCO GANTRIES The tobacco manufacturers are helping some shops by arranging for their gantry to be modified to meet the new requirements. This involves fitting them with either large doors in England, or small flaps in Scotland, to comply with their different legislation. For the remainder, ownership of the gantries is being passed to the shop owner, leaving them with the problem of how to comply with the display legislation. Some Symbol groups may help their members.

What the changes mean: ■ The discontinuation of packs of 10 and 19 cigarettes will reduce the number of different pack sizes you need to stock, as will the banning of menthol.

■ Removing tobacco from open display means that small brands will tend to lose out – the market will consolidate in the longer term on the bigger brand leaders. Retailers will only stock products with a viable rate of sale.

■ There is much less need to have multiple facings of leading products – the number of packs in fixture is determined solely by rate of sale rather than any marketing considerations.

Potentially, this could allow you to reduce the size of the tobacco fixture and also release capital by holding less expensive tobacco stock.

■ There is no advantage for the shopkeeper in having tobacco displayed prominently on the wall behind the counter. Potentially, this is space that could be devoted to more profitable lines.

■ Going dark, particularly if it ends up combined with standardised packaging, makes it more difficult for an assistant to serve the customer with the right product. Australia has already

introduced standardised packaging. From the Australian Association of Convenience Stores reports, the effect of plain packaging has increased stress and led to more staff mistakes. Some modern tobacco storage systems can help in this respect.

WHAT RETAILERS NEED TO DO The new regulations are coming into force in less than six months’ time (and with Christmas in that period!). All shopkeepers should be planning how to respond. Shopfitters and equipment suppliers will not have the capacity to respond if you contact them at the end of March 2015!

Now is the time to decide on what is the best approach to maintain your important tobacco sales and make your business legally compliant for the future.

ADAPT THE EXISTING GANTRY Botch If the Irish experience of going dark is any guide, some shopkeepers will end up the night before the legislation comes into force putting an old curtain across their gantry or cobbling together sheets of cardboard. Clearly this is not to be recommended!

Sliding doors or shutters If you go for a DIY approach, do make sure that your handiwork is sufficiently sturdy to meet the rigours of continual use, provides good security, looks acceptable within your shop context and that it fully meets the requirements of the legislation.

Alternatively, many professional shopfitters will fit your existing gantry with shutters or sliding doors, at a cost of several hundred pounds.

REPLACE THE EXISTING GANTRY Servertab This is a solution provided by an Italian company, Expottuto. They provide a fixture, attached to the ceiling above the cash taking

point, open at the back so that the assistant can see and select stock, but keeping the tobacco out of sight of customers. It is therefore easier for staff to operate than sliding doors or shutters.

This is a neat solution but obviously requires a minimum ceiling height to be feasible. It is possible to fit a digital screen to the front of the unit to display messages or advertising, whilst it releases the space currently taken up by the gantry to display other merchandise.

Dispensing units The concept is a vending machine, albeit one operated by staff rather than customers. There are various permutations but at its most sophisticated the automatic dispenser unit is linked to a keypad and the epos system. The assistant selects the brand required and the machine dispenses it automatically. Usually the machine would be by the cash taking point, although in some cases they have been located in the back shop, thus saving valuable display space. This equipment has a number of advantages, some being outlined more fully in the separate article contributed by one of the major suppliers, Cherwell. Other suppliers include Navarre and Sinclair Collis. Costs for these units vary depending on the level of sophistication. In the right location these can be a good option.

DOING NOTHING IS NOT AN OPTION Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 29

By Hugh Walker, New Business Development Manager, Cherwell Group

The Automated Tobacco Gantry The most effective and future proof equipment to sell tobacco will be the automated tobacco gantry system, commonly known as vending. Tried and tested in the Irish tobacco dark market, it is wellproven, with many thousands in use in Ireland and hundreds here in England. The machines can fit in the same place as the old gantry. They are future proof as they meet all current or potential English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish legal requirements.

Installation is quick and easy, without fixture disruption.

In most cases it leaves space for additional shelving and POS material. Speed and ease of operation is key, with the right tobacco brand appearing in the delivery slot the instant you press the button. There is no turning your back on customers as you search for the right brand and it speeds up transactions, reducing queuing.

Shell are already trialling the automated gantry with the view to a UK roll out.

The delivery slot is at the right height for anyone to reach unlike a hanging gantry which will require only tall people working in the shop. Operation and brand

selection is from a simple keypad, or through your own EPOS touchscreen and is easy to operate, no specialist knowledge of a cigarette brand’s location in a closed gantry is needed so no special training is required. The machine would operate just as efficiently with standardised packaging.

Additional benefits to the automated gantry system are through combating shrinkage which can account for 0.5% of tobacco turnover at cost price. Tobacco losses are reduced to almost zero and in a busy shop or forecourt this can more than pay for the machine. Stock is safe from theft and locked away in a 3mm steel case.

Purchase options extend from rental schemes through to lease purchase. Cherwell customers will also have access to the Trade Cigarettes on-line portal which provides shop owners with access to cigarettes at prices below typical cash and carry prices and will dispatch them fully insured for next day delivery.

Q5 or 1000 outer rates are passed on to the customers who rent or buy a gantry machine from Cherwell, enabling them to increase their margins and stay competitive in this market. It certainly saves the time and risk of buying and transporting cigarettes from a cash and carry and results in higher margins.

Space on the front of the automated tobacco dispenser can be utilised for POS signage, digital screen displays or additional merchandising for the growing e cigarette market or high value brands. In this way, retailers can make more productive use of this important selling space.

The Cherwell unit is on the left.

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■ For more information, email: vending@ruralshops.org.uk

Trading standards laws...

Alcohol, Tobacco – What’s next?

Trading standards laws go back a very long way in England, with the standard weight of a loaf of bread having been laid down as early as 1266. About 150 years ago, the 1860 Adulteration of Food Act started a path of government intervention leading to the present day. Throughout the decades, there has been the need to balance the individuals’ freedom of choice with the need to protect the lay consumer from exploitation or harm, as well as the interests of wider society.

Over the decades, the restrictions on the sale of certain products have tightened up as medical knowledge has advanced and the role of the state is increasingly seen as protecting individual citizens from their own bad decisions, often through persuasion rather than an outright ban. The classic example of this is of course, where we have moved from the situation during the Second World War when tobacco was seen as a vital support for the morale of the population, to today’s

situation where its use is heavily discouraged in a myriad of ways - high taxation, health warnings, restrictions on packaging design, advertising and display ban, ban on consumption in public places, even medical help to people stop smoking.

Alcohol is obviously next in line – currently high tax, minimum pricing, specified label warnings, age restricted sales, advertising restrictions - will it go further?

An interesting issue for the next Parliament is how strong an appetite there is to extend the role of the state in discouraging consumption of a range of other products; there is almost a hierarchy of products waiting behind tobacco and alcohol. This could include energy drinks, soft drinks, fast foods and confectionery.

The dilemma for legislators is that increasingly they are trying to limit the harm from products that are fine consumed in moderation and indeed give pleasure to millions. This is a far more difficult task than products that are intrinsically harmful. The puritan impulse would be that if some people consume too many energy drinks, then the law needs to prevent them. The liberal approach might be that provided they do not harm other people, then leave well alone.

It is likely that the EU and the next Parliament will be wrestling with some of these issues. Rural shopkeepers may well wish to quiz prospective candidates at the next election on where they stand with regards to legislation on these issues.

Issue 27 ● Autumn 2014 ● RuralRetailer 31