Your shops need you – why we must support them

IT WAS always going to take more than a bit of inclement weather to stop people from returning to the nation’s high streets yesterday. After months of closure – the second lengthy stint where ‘non-essential’ shops have been ordered to remain shuttered in the past year – the sense of relief and joy was palpable.

Whether you thought the folks queuing for Primark were a bit mad, or you wanted to join them, it was another example of the resilience of the human spirit – something ‘normal’ to grasp hold of.

And with their best period of the year, Christmas, a write-off, this day couldn’t have come soon enough for many traders.

Alongside the terrible cost in human life of Covid-19, the pandemic has meant the end of many shops as they simply couldn’t bear the losses of prolonged closure, even with government aid. This has of course also meant the loss of many thousands of jobs.

Bricks and mortar traders have found their customer base further eroded by an increased embrace of online shopping in the past year.

With little other choice, heading to the web has been the only option for many of us.

But now is the time to step away from the keyboard – Amazon (and Jeff Bezos) has had more than enough of our money.

It’s a truism to say ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’, so get out there, and support our shops.

The independent stores have had a particularly tough time of it – they deserve some of our hard-earned cash again.

That’s not to say the major retailers have had an easy ride – the news has been filled with the woes of numerous big names.

It is unlikely that the high street is ever going to return to what it was several years ago – things were already changing.

But we can do our bit to help those who are still there.