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Rural Retail Advisory Partnership (RRAP)
Rural Village Shops Revitalise Scheme
Background
Village shops and Post Offices not only supply an important retail service to their community, particularly to certain sectors (ie the elderly and those without their own transport means where transport links are fragmented) they are also recognised as providing an essential social service to their community and contributing to and sustaining the local economy.
In many rural areas Village shops and Post Offices act as a “hub” especially in hamlets which are isolated with no other community services or facilities available. It is an important meeting place providing important social contact. Information can be disseminated, local events, services/sales and vacancies are advertised there. These outlets can also provide a secure venue for prescription/parcel delivery and collection. The Retailer/Sub Postmaster is regularly enlisted to guide doctors and health workers, delivery drivers and visitors to their intended destination. It has been proposed that the provision of a good village store can increase local property prices, which if true would certainly benefit the financial security of all home owners in the vicinity. Such a direct correlation might be difficult to prove given the myriad of other contributing factors re house prices. However, what cannot be argued in light of the above is that, the presence of a vibrant community outlet enhances the quality of life experienced by those it serves.
Economically, Village shops and Post Offices provide employment. Additionally they facilitate local businesses including those working from home. In particular, those outlets that offer IT links, fax and photocopying in addition to postal services are proving an invaluable support. Where local produce is sourced and sold the retailer is directly enabling the profitability and continuation of a neighbouring farm/smallholding or producer. Increasingly Village shops and Post Offices are found to be attracting tourists and their accompanying revenue to an area which can only boost the local economy.
The All-Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group was set up by a cross party group of MPs to raise awareness among Parliamentarians of a broad range of issues of concern to small shopkeepers, including retail crime, excessive insurance premiums, planning reform, red tape and environmental legislation. The group also looks at the vital social and economic role played by independent retailers in community stores. Their report provides the analysis of the evidence, both written and oral, submitted to the Inquiry held by the All-Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group, entitled ‘High Street Britain: 2015.’ Their findings endorse the above.
“The vast majority of contributors agreed that all small shops are important to, and influenced by, economic, social and political trends. The small retail sector is a key driver of: entrepreneurship, employment, skills, local economies, innovation, and sophisticated business networks, as well as accessibility to vital goods and services, diversity, social inclusion and community activities.”
When the above is considered as a whole it validates the view that the loss of such an essential service can have a fundamental impact on the sustainability of a local rural community both Socially and economically.
Unfortunately recent closure levels have been well documented in the media and the same report quoted earlier found.
“Wafer thin margins, combined with the constant threat of unfair competition from supermarket behemoths, mean that small shops, once an essential part of the fabric of rural and urban life, are disappearing in their thousands each year.”
Their predictions for the future offer little comfort.
“Contributors are concerned by the intense pressure small shops face, from both market-led forces and external (macro-environmental) forces. Witnesses cite the aggression of larger competitors, distortion of the supply chain, the cost of property, crime, poor planning decisions, a lack of appropriate business support and disproportional regulatory burdens as problematic.
There is widespread belief therefore, that many small shops across the UK will have ceased trading by 2015 with few independent businesses taking their place. Their loss, largely the result of a heavily unbalanced trading environment, will damage the UK socially, economically and environmentally. People (as consumers and members of communities) stand to be disadvantaged the most with restricted choice, entrenched social exclusion and a vulnerable supply chain caused by consolidation.”
There is further evidence from Nick Louth, MSN Money Special Correspondent in his update (December 2005) “Countryside Agency figures show that for the vast majority of British villages, the battle is already lost. More than 70% of the countries 10,000 villages have no shops at all.
A report by the New Economics Foundation said that 13,000 local shops such as butchers, bakers, fishmongers and newsagents closed between 1997 and 2002. Across the country as a whole, urban and rural convenience stores are still closing at the rate of 2,000 a year.
Across the country, rural residents like to live in a village with a post office, shop or pub. This desire is reflected in the higher house prices demanded for such character villages. Yet it is not reflected in the actual use made of them. Quite simply, if residents want a village shop to survive they have to use it”.
Undoubtedly the long term opportunities for many rural businesses has to be called to question, the survival of the fittest is a reality and even businesses that may have been perceived as financially viable in recent years are now unable to offer the levels of income that existing, or certainly potential operators may be seeking.
All too often the decision to operate a rural business has been based on a lifestyle opportunity, often from individuals with little retail or indeed commercial experience. Those that have operated such business over a longer period of time have found it increasingly difficult to stay in touch with changes in retail trends and often not had the financial resources available to invest in updating fixtures and fittings. Additionally the ability for many to fund any development of their stock range, or in some cases maintain reasonable stock on their shelves, limits the onward potential for such businesses to survive.
The challenge is therefore to attempt to seek out those rural businesses where focused investment could impact positively on their ability to develop a level of service to the community that would extend viability opportunity whilst engaging the community they serve, to divert some of their required purchasing away from their now primary source, most probably the local supermarket. |
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