A chance to focus on our local firms

There is no doubt that high street retailers are facing continuing struggles to compete in an age where eBay, Amazon and other online platforms make the process of shopping from home - or, indeed, from anywhere at all - so much easier.

That struggle becomes even more apparent at this time of year, traditionally the busiest shopping time of the year, in the run up to Christmas.

And there are different approaches being taken by retailers to try and address those difficulties.

On the one hand we have seen the adoption of a recent retail phenomenon from the US - Black Friday. Meanwhile, on the other hand, this Saturday has been named Small Business Saturday in an annual campaign run each year by the Federation of Small Businesses.

The first is just a retailing trick with big businesses trying to cash in on the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, imported to this country where it has even less relevance but just as much hype to try and create the sort of unpleasant atmosphere we have seen with some shoppers literally fighting over a very limited number of highly reduced items while everybody else experiences frustration and disappointment as they fail to find the sort of bargains they were promised.

On this so-called Black Friday I resisted the cacophony and instead shopped very locally at Wee Beasties in Crieff for something a bit more individual and that is the sort of shopping activity that everyone is being encouraged to do this Saturday coming, Small Business Saturday.

The event is a day to celebrate the contribution of independent, shops, cafes, bars and other businesses in the local economy and community. Small and medium sized firms employ more than 1 million people in Scotland.

I’ll take Small Business Saturday over Black Friday any day of the week!

To help you get to these great local businesses at other times it is good news that Perth & Kinross Council is bringing back free parking after 2 pm in all Council operated car parks in Perth city centre and throughout the whole of Perth and Kinross. Free after 2 will operate on each Thursday and Friday from November 24 until January 27, 2017 inclusive.

And while we are praising local businesses I would like to congratulate all the nominees and winners from the Perthshire Chamber of Commerce’s Business Star awards which were held recently.

There are some great stories to be told about successful businesses in this area and it is great to see them getting the recognition they deserve.