Vote with your feet to save our high street

ONLY a year has passed since we gained our own monthly artisan market, yet it has just announced its closure.

Organisers put it down to poor footfall in the Ashbourne market. Is this indicative of a wider trend throughout the country, or due to a lack of affordable parking in the area, as one reader has commented?

Parking is certainly cheaper in other areas. Free parking on Sundays in certain car parks or streets in Ashbourne could attract more to the town, and thus the market, as it ran on a Sunday.

The reader’s letter stressed that Derby has some areas that are free to park in on Sundays. So if Derby can do it, why can’t Ashbourne? It is almost as if we need the money from parking more than the market.

A trend towards online shopping is clear and apparent. Companies like Amazon and Ebay grow ever larger while high street brands and markets are waning.

No doubt there are those who believe local shops are superior and there is something to be said about the local ‘feel’ of Ashbourne companies. But the convenience offered by large companies and the one-stopshop culture is hard to deny.

But is this convenience worth it, considering what it is doing to our local businesses? No doubt there would be a divide along generational lines.

The solution must be for local businesses to change and adapt. For firms small in size, this is often a difficult and costly affair.

But business is rarely easy, and it does not look like big businesses are going to stop anytime soon. Adapt or die – this is natural selection at its very core.

Things shouldn’t have to be this way, and the consumer is not powerless to stop it. If you wish to keep small businesses afloat, vote with your feet and spend local.