Shops like mine can save the High Street
OLD-FASHIONED retailers are far from dead (Letters). I run a small building supplies business from a shop in the lovely market town where I live, and I am doing very nicely, thank you. The reason? While I can’t compete with the big boys on price — though I do the best I can — I offer a service. If you want to build a garden shed, but don’t know the right blocks or sand to use, try finding that information online. When your toilet starts leaking, you don’t know what part you need and even Amazon can’t deliver until the next day, what do you do? It’s not just my shop that gives excellent service. The local Euronics electrical retailer has earned heaps of plaudits on the town Facebook page. When a family’s freezer broke down, it pulled out all the stops to deliver a new one the same day. Try getting that response from a website. How many pairs of shoes would you have to order and send back before you found the right ones? It’s far easier to walk into a friendly, family-run shoe shop and try on several pairs. I suggest the reader who orders his shopping online while under the duvet should get out of bed and visit his local shops. He might be pleasantly surprised.
VAL CROISSANT, Barton-upon-Humber, Lincs.
HOW depressing that some people think the future of retail is digital only. Hopefully, we don’t all hold that view and town centres aren’t in their death throes. Some of us like to live in the real world, interact with other people, go into actual shops, cinemas and theatres, and meet our friends in cafes for a chat and a bit of a laugh. Life is for living, not staying in bed clicking on a screen. Get out into the real world before it is too late.
Mrs B. ENGLAND, Worcester Park, surrey.
COUNCILS and shopping centres share some of the blame for the decline in the number of shoppers in our town centres. After a lovely day in the Swan Walk shopping centre in Horsham, I was shocked to discover the car parking charge was £6. I had spent money in Holland & Barrett, Marks & Spencer and Boots. I also visited the bank because there is no longer a branch where I live. Supporting the High Street shouldn’t cost this much. We are being taxed for going out. Surely parking should be free or at most £1 for three hours if you have receipts from the local shops. Do we want a society where everything is ordered online and there is no interaction with other people? Imagine the mental health problems that will cause. How sad to think of a digital future where there are no family days out to the shops.
LINDA STEVENSON, Billingshurst, W. sussex.