I wish... I supported local independent shops (part 3)

Is a 3-for-2 offer a good deal or a good trick to make you buy more?

It was 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon when my shift at work finished and I began to drive home. But instead of driving straight past Tunbridge Wells, I decided to pull into a multi storey car park and go to the shopping centre.

Noooooooooooo!!!

I had betrayed my High Street already. But it's not as bad as it sounds. You see, I needed to go to one particular shop to buy one particular present for my Mum. Something that I knew she would love. Something that I wouldn't be able to buy in a local independent shop in Uckfield.

It's only one present, I told myself. It's only one shop.

Ten shops later, I was wandering aimlessly along an aisle, clutching a bland ceramic item cleverly disguised in attractive Christmas-themed packaging and rapidly scanning the shelves for two more average gifts. Just so I could take advantage of a 3-for-2 offer.

I overheard two women discussing a gift they were thinking about buying. "It's a bit much for what it is," said the first woman. The second woman looked at it and replied, "But it does come with a tin."

It was my cue to leave. I returned my item to its shelf, walked out of the shop, walked back to my car, and drove home.

I'm not surprised that I walked into shops that I had no intention of visiting. The retail environment entices you with expertly designed window displays, special offers and brand names that spark a subconscious memory of an advert you've seen fifteen times this month without realising it. And I've been going to shopping centres all my life; it's second nature. Plus I had paid and displayed. I couldn't just walk in to one shop and walk out again when I was entitled to two hours of primetime car parking for my investment of £2.40.

Ridiculous. I could have walked to my High Street for free.

Do you have a wish of the month? What has been distracting you lately?

I wish... I supported local independent shops (part 2)

Permanent independent shops are committed to your High Street. Pop-up shops are not.

My toes were cold. I had been standing in Uckfield town square for an hour. I say town square; it's a scruffy rectangle on two levels with concrete steps and a pebbledash slope between them. But it does the job.

I wasn't alone. Two hundred people, mostly parents and children, were watching kids from six primary schools sing Christmas songs on a temporary stage (the open-sided flat bed of a lorry). Two DJs kept reminding us that it was being broadcast live on Uckfield FM, our community radio station, as they walked up and down the stage asking questions of monosyllabic children and saying brilliant a lot.

After the third school, I'd heard enough. I hugged my friend Kathy and said well done to her teenage daughter, who looked at me like I was from outer space. 

Shops! That's what I needed. Local independent ones. Local was easy to spot. But independent...?

My search halted outside a pop-up shop in a normally empty premises. It was being run by the Uckfield Framing Company, an independent business on the industrial estate. Perfect, I thought. I went in. 

I bought a handmade greetings card by a local artist and picked up a jar of homemade spicy apple chutney. "How much?" I asked. "Whatever you want to donate," said the woman behind the table. "It's for my son's school." I dropped some coins in the tin and walked out.

Success. 

However, it was a temporary shop. What about permanent independent shops? The shops that want to be permanent, anyway. 

I walked in to The Bargain Store. Normally I don't. Well, you wouldn't if you saw it. The windows are covered from top to bottom in flyers and posters and scruffy handwritten ads. But today I would give it a go.

A bell tinkled as I opened the door, and again when I closed it. A real bell. I looked around. It was the kind of place that sold chocolate liquors, children's marbles in little nets and an obscure Latvian brand of washing up liquid in the same aisle. 

I browsed for a stupidly long time. So long in fact that I felt obliged to buy something - anything - so as not to offend the husband and wife who appeared to own the shop. I bought some chocolate Christmas tree decorations with a dubious list of ingredients on the back, and a small packet of Liquorice Allsorts.

Turning back up the High Street, I followed a crowd into Olive's Yard and found myself in a queue to see Father Christmas. Deciding I was a bit big for that kind of thing, I dived into the nearest shop, which happened to be the Lions Club secondhand bookshop. 

Again, I bumped into a friend I used to go to school with, Denise, and again I walked out with a purchase: Eden by Tim Smit. It wasn't my final purchase. That was charity Christmas cards from another pop-up shop on the walk home.

I thought about my first attempt to support local independent shops. It hadn't been entirely successful. Only one of the shops was independent and permanent enough that I could support it regularly. 

Next time, I'll go shopping in the High Street when there isn't a special late night event going on. 

Next time I'll go shopping in permanent local independent shops only.

Are you committed to your wish of the month? How could you make it a permanent change in your life?

I wish... I supported local independent shops

I do a lot of shopping in supermarkets and big department stores. And online.

Why? It's convenient. I drive to a big car park, walk around inside a huge warm building and choose from endless goods with brand names I know and trust. Or I sit in the comfort of my own home, browse big name websites and choose from endless goods with brand names I know and trust.

Occasionally I walk into a small, independently-owned shop. I might even buy something: a coffee and a chunk of tiffin from a quirky cafe in Brighton; a book about art from a dusty secondhand bookshop in Lewes. 

Each time that I do, I feel good about it. Because I know that I have supported that little shop. My money has contributed to the income of the owner, who may well be the same person who served me. 

Perhaps that little business will survive a little bit longer because of me...

But, when it is no longer a sunny Saturday afternoon in June, and I'm not ambling through a trendy corner of London-by-the-Sea or a quaint street in a tourist town with a visiting friend, I return to my usual mainstream buying habits.

It's not good enough. 

I've watched the news in recent years. I've seen the slow decline of High Streets nationwide because of recession and changing spending habits. 

Use it or lose it - If we don't use local independent shops regularly, they go bankrupt and close down. 

Another small business might start up to take its place, but often not. More likely, a big brand name will move in and open it's 295th branch. Over time, the High Street in one town looks remarkably (or unremarkably) like any other.

Or the premises remains empty, the High Street loses its kerb appeal, less people bother to shop there, and more businesses close. It's a vicious circle.

My hometown, Uckfield, has fared well compared to some. There are only a few empty shops. But over the years I've noticed more big companies move in, and big name charities fill in the gaps. 

I wish I supported local independent shops. I wish I bought products from them instead of supermarkets and department stores and online versions of them. I wish lots of other people did the same thing and the independent shops thrived and attracted new independent businesses and new shoppers. But that's wishing for a lot. I can only do my bit.

This month I will do as much Christmas shopping as possible in as many local independent shops as I can.

Starting with Late Night Shopping on Friday 5th December!

What is your wish of the month? What do you wish you could do by the end of the year?