Will the independent high street retailer ever return.
The politicians obvious comfort with growth of supermarkets and national/multiple retailers has been the major reason behind the demise of the independent high street retailer.
For many years the excuse of competition, choice and creation of jobs were flagged as the reasons in allowing almost unfettered growth of the major retailer.
In fact the word competitiveness in this context seems to be a very subjective/convenient word, as the large retailer applies it only to their equally large competitor with independent traders becoming also ran’s.
It must very difficult for the independent trader to understand how a supermarket can offer a regular price for items the independent trader cannot buy at wholesale/cash & carry at prices that cannot be matched even before the independent retailer adds any margin for profit.
The independent business has also to concede many other services and costs that are a legal requirement both at national and local levels, with national legislation and local bye laws plainly disadvantaging the independent retail shops and service businesses.
The argument for the national wage structure has meant that some owners who exceed 90 hours per week often working seven days now earn less per hour than their employees.
Add to this local businesses often purchased their goods from local rather than national suppliers thus strengthening the local community with jobs, social cohesion, a natural localisation ensuring the employee need not contribute or be part of any rush hour thus minimising travel etc, with little need for multi storey or great swathes of concrete car parks.
As the local population have little to no option in relying on job opportunities to be centralised then not only do we ensure the need for the high usage of cars and transport in general, we ensure the local business community has little to no trade from Monday to Friday as the potential local client is elsewhere earning a living. With the local shop relying on weekend and evening trade to make their living, whilst their oncosts are very much a 6/7 day and evening occurrence.
This places all in the proverbial ‘Catch 22’ situation, with the only real winners being government, national and multi national companies who through such centralisation find it ever easier to control and direct with devastating effect not only the independent business but the independence of the individual.
Oddly we hear the politician accusing almost all but themselves for the problems with cars and transport in general, power supply and the individuals abuse of natural resources when in fact it is the politician and their almost comatose approach to centralisation which leaves us with little to no option as they systematically destroy local businesses and with it the local community.
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