High Street Welcomes Independents

The consumer’s style of shopping is changing; no longer content with a buy-all trip to their local out-of-town supermarket, they are dividing their purchases between small, independent stores and larger retailers – making the most of the varied selection of food and drink offered to them at the various establishments, and in particular the quality produce offered to them at delis, farm shops and food halls.

We speak to James Lowman, chief executive of ACS, and Abbe Vaughan, co-owner of Home & Colonial in Porthcawl, to get their views on this new information.

James Lowman, ACS

We’ve been publishing the Local Shop Report for four years now, and every year our aim is to provide the most comprehensive look at the convenience sector available anywhere. The Local Shop Report demonstrates the value of the convenience sector, both in terms of the economy and the communities that stores trade in. We also use the report to provide every MP in the UK with information about the stores, jobs and training opportunities that the sector provides in their constituencies.

The report demonstrates that consumers continue to move toward shopping more little and often, as opposed to getting everything in one place from a huge supermarket. This is a significant opportunity for delis and farm shops.

The report shows that consumers believe that having friendly staff is the most important factor in driving people into the store. However, many consumers continue to move away from big brands and are looking to seek out local, artisan products which is where specialist food shops and delis can work with convenience stores to get their products out to a wider customer base.

In the report, we found that convenience stores and post offices were rated as having the most positive impact on their local high streets, followed by pharmacies, coffee shops and specialist food shops. Over 80% of these are involved in their local communities by fundraising, sponsoring events and getting involved with community projects, so we’re not surprised by the results.

The specialist food sector has a real opportunity to work with local independent retailers and develop partnerships that allow convenience store customers access to a wide range of locally sourced products. When asked which service they want more of on their local high street, consumers said they wanted more specialist food shops, so just having more physical stores would also be helpful in developing these partnerships.

Abbe Vaughan, Home & Colonial

There’s lots of reasons for speciality shops being most desirable for the high street. First of all, customers are demanding variety – they want something niche, a little bit different. We provide them with that shopping experience.

I read somewhere that having a deli in your local high street can drive up house prices by as much as 10%. There’s a feelgood factor that comes into play just by having a deli. This can have a knock-on effect on other businesses. Buckingham is a good example of this. It’s a small town threaded through with delis, where there’s that real feelgood factor on the high street and house prices are particularly pricey.

Small independent and speciality shops add a sense of community and offer a personal touch not offered by larger retailers. Because we know our regular customers, and because we are a smaller retailer, I know Mrs Jones and how thickly she likes her ham cut. I know what she will be coming in on a Friday to buy and I know what she will buy here on a Monday. There’s a definite sense of community. You become friendly with the older customers, too and can become a part of their lives. We pride ourselves on the sort of personal, friendly service which supermarkets are unable to deliver, although this is more difficult to achieve on Fridays and weekends, because we are trying to get numbers through the doors. Later in the week we have more time to achieve this.

We operate opening hours in line with the needs of our customers, and always extend until half past five in the evening so that we catch the travellers coming home. On Saturdays we open earlier than we normally would because people have things to do on Saturdays and like to get the shopping out of the way. We always open on Sundays – if you’re located on a high street it’s really important that you open seven days a week.