Retail is undergoing significant changes and none of us can ignore the effects. It touches all of us. We are all consumers. We can see change happening just by walking down the street and seeing the closed shops.
Read the below article from Michael Weedon, Chair of the Retail & High Street Policy Unit at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) on why they are campaigning to make changes to some of the barriers that small firms are facing.
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Nearly one in ten of us works for, or is, a retailer. More than 50,000 retail jobs are going or have gone from big stores this year alone. Some have forecast that nearly a million jobs will be lost in the next few years.
We can’t miss the headlines either. Well-known chains and department stores are crashing into administration or closing swathes of high street stores.
Small shops are in the thick of this. There are twice as many independent high street businesses as chain stores. They are vital to the health of our town centres. Many are finding it difficult, some too difficult, to stay in business.
We all know the problems. Shops lie empty, increasingly expensive parking in towns drives shoppers to choose retail parks, business rate bills weigh disproportionately heavily on high street retailers while online-only operators have far lower costs – and pay far less in tax. Then there’s time-honoured necessities such as high street banks and convenient ATMs closing down and competition from online shopping.
If we don’t act then we know that these problems will get worse – and we will all feel the impact.
There is much that can be done to free the high street from the burdens imposed by tax, parking and planning policy. There is much that can be done to enable our towns to reimagine and repurpose themselves for a future, which is less about shopping and is more and more about leisure and experience and community.
The traditional high street is changing. Small retailers in particular, are facing a perfect storm of spiralling business rates and ever-increasing rents. On top of this, high parking charges, poor infrastructure and the loss of vital banking services, have added to the woes of small businesses.
While we understand there’s no quick fix for the high street, it’s clear something needs to be done to lessen the pressure on small firms struggling to keep their heads above water. FSB’s High Streets Hub sets out how central and local government in England can help high streets to flourish.
Our recommendations are aimed at lessening the burden of the outdated and unfair business rates system, the dwindling bank branch and ATM networks and the lack of adequate parking facilities in town centres.
Small business owners are resilient and are always having to adapt. But we want to see the Government and local authorities come together to look at real solutions to these issues so that our high streets are not only able to survive but to thrive.