Our local shops need your support
The huge impact of coronavirus on our local shops and retailers has left many hanging in the balance.
At the start of lockdown the Scottish Government made sure every outlet already receiving the Small Business Bonus could apply for £10,000 to keep their business afloat during lockdown, with other grants available to the self-employed and ratepayers with bigger retail shops.
But as we go through the phases of the route map out of lockdown, your local shops need your support to make sure they are there in our communities in the long-term.
We know how important community businesses have been over recent months. The restrictions on travel and work have meant we’ve been more reliant than usual on the corner shop and our high streets.
Not being able to travel far meant relying on our local shops and the services they provide.
At the peak of lockdown, corner shops saw a massive rise in custom as people stayed closer to home rather than drive to out-of-town supermarkets.
Now, as non-essential businesses reopen, it’s these high street shops that need our custom if we want that high street to still be there for us in years to come.
The continued restrictions on public transport in particular means the community service provided on our high streets will be vital for weeks, possibly months to come, if many of us without access to private transport can’t easily assume buses and trains will be available to the same extent they were.
As we rebuild our economy over coming months, getting the biggest bang for our buck will be vital.
Shopping local means more of our spending stays in the community and sustains jobs that are more likely to be filled by local people, as well as generating more revenue and custom for other local businesses such as cafes and restaurants.
Yes, it can be easier to load up Amazon or Tesco on the computer and order in a fortnight’s messages. But if we don’t support our local shops, our communities will be all the poorer if businesses fail.
The recent trend of low numbers of coronavirus cases has continued, with many days seeing positive cases in single figures.
As I’ve said before, this is the result of all the hard work and sacrifice our country has collectively made over recent months. As a result more and more of our society and economy is now open, albeit under slightly different conditions.
We can’t put these gains at risk, and that’s why the use of face coverings in shops and on public transport is so important.
As we are out and about more and mix more often with people outside our households, so the potential risk of viral transmission increases if mitigation such as face coverings isn’t in place.
Of course, it is odd to be donning our coverings as we head into the supermarket for our messages. More than once I’ve got halfway up the road before having to turn back as I remember my covering is in my other jacket’s pocket. But that change in our day-to-day life is a trade-off which in turn helps protect people around us and our loved ones.
At some point in the future we will look back on this period and reflect on the journey we have had to make together through this global pandemic. By reducing transmission that point will hopefully come sooner rather than later.