OUR HIGH STREETS ARE OF LOCAL AREAS. LET’S
AS LOCKDOWN measures gradually begin to ease there has been lots of talk about returning to “normality”.
Car showrooms are open, people are allowed to gather outside in slightly larger socially distanced groups and many businesses are starting to return to work.
But there will be no bigger signal of normality returning than when our high streets swing their doors open for business once again.
From big-name department stores to our local independent traders, the symbolism of our favourite shops opening up again cannot be overstated. It has been an incredibly testing time for our national economy and this will be the most visible sign of it trying to spring back into life.
Visible vibrancy also helps provide a sense of wellbeing, a key driver behind economic success. And the return of the high street won’t just provide a visible boost.
Yes, high street retailers may not quite be the economic powerhouse they once were, but in the wider West Midlands the wholesale and retail sector still employs more than 400,000 people and around 50 per cent of people take their first job in retail.
If we want to protect jobs and keep people in work the return of the retail sector is key.
Some business leaders such as the boss of Marks & Spencer have said this pandemic will signal the death of the high street. I disagree wholeheartedly as we are sociable beings who crave interaction.
We want to feel anchored to our local streets and shops, not tethered instead to some unknown algorithm.
Forget warehouses, it’s our high streets that knit communities together.they are the heartbeat of local areas and their resurrection will mark the important return to socialisation. This matters to our big cities like Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton but perhaps more importantly to our smaller towns and villages.
If there is to be a silver lining from this crisis I hope it will be the reinforcement of the need to buy local and support the commercial ecosystem of these local centres.
Community spirit and the resulting social capital have seen us through the worst and now is the time for people to support their high street as things slowly return to a new normal. But people will only offer this support and return to high streets and city centres once they have the confidence they can do so safely.
The onus is on retailers to prove to customers that they can make their stores safe. If I was still running John Lewis all my focus and energy would be centred on this.
And having seen what a brilliant job supermarkets have done throughout this crisis I would have complete confidence that it could be made to work for a big department store as well. There is also confidence to be gained from looking at how other businesses outside of retail have adapted in an attempt to stay open whilst also keeping customers safe.
Innovative bars and restaurants have turned their hand to takeaway services while car showrooms have introduced a range of social distancing measures to allow for a safe reopening this past week.
And it is this safety aspect we must keep at the forefront of our minds at all times. Not only must people’s lives and their families come first but we cannot do anything that would risk a second wave of infections.
This would of course mean stricter lockdown measures reintroduced and that could well be a knockout punch for our economy.
This crisis has brought into sharp focus the future of our high streets and what needs to be done to help them survive and thrive.
First we must look at the role of online tech giants like Amazon who have done astronomically well during this crisis in delivering
‘We cannot risk a second wave of infections’