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?
A good start to your quest though Richard :) And your writing style is, now what's the word?, BRILLIANT lol. Seriously though, I love how you eloquently paint a picture with words. Looking forward to the next chapter :) Pxx
ReplyDeleteOh that's great to hear, thanks Paul! I'm determined to not repeat last month. :-) Another chapter coming soon; I cross the High Street most days on the way to work. x
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