Seminar Dates

Throughout 2010 we will be running free seminars to demonstrate how All The Little Shops™ can work in your Town Centre by helping your independent retailers.

Wednesday 14th April, 6pm at Condover.

Click here to find out more

Helping Independent retailers on the high street and increasing footfall to town centres – The Business Case

It is well documented that footfall and spend on the high street is down – the worst for 25years (since records began!) as detailed in the Daily Telegraph 30th July 2008 and this is now being further exacerbated more recently by the internationally identified credit crunch which has seen the onset of unparralled international economic challenges and closure of a number of household retailing names.

Many of the multiple retailers on the high street are making up for their losses via the massive growth of on-line sales via the Internet. Shoppers are turning to the internet during the credit crunch. Bargain hunters spent more than £4.67 billion on web shopping in December - the equivalent of £76.67 for every person in the UK. The figures, from the IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) Cap Gemini e-Retail Sales Index, were up 14.2% on December 2007. The result:

• Footfall has reduced by up to 30% in some town centres, which has translated into reduced sales and profitability for town centre based businesses.


• “Shop Local” campaigns are gathering momentum to help independents and reduce the carbon footprint of consumers travelling further a field.


• Regional “Save our small shops” campaigns are being created as trading conditions favour the larger national chains, which results in the cloning of High Streets.


• A Commission into Small Shops on the High Street initiated by The Conservative Parliamentary Enterprise Group published its findings in July 2008. “…restoring small shops to our town centres can be as iconic as restoring salmon to the Thames.” says Brian Binley, MP in the foreword of the document. Fortunately many town centres still have a good base of independent retailers - we must maintain the soul of our town centres before it is too late.


• The Retail Markets Alliance has signed a constitution on behalf of NMTF, NABMA, ATCM, and the farmers’ organisation FARMA to support the APPMG (All Party Parliamentary Markets Group) to help make town centres successful and allow independent retailers and markets part of that success.


• Reduced high street spend and lack of specific skills means many independent retailers are not in a financial position to design and build a quality e-commerce website for themselves, to access Internet sales opportunities and take advantage of the change in consumer purchasing trends.


• There is a need for Town Centre Managers and Councils to help independent retailers and for the independent sector to help itself.


• Many town centres are visibly in a down ward spiral of decline with increasing numbers of empty units, a growth in charity shops and the like, being all too common. This militates against attracting additional retail property investment from the private sector who are nervous in the extreme to embark on new investment projects.

There is a real need to act now:

Contact peter@allthelittleshops.co.uk