Can our high streets be saved?
September 20, 2013
behind the news
weekender
3
Can our high streets be saved? BIG name chains are hitting the IW’s streets — but are they welcome brands or do they spell the end for the Island’s independent businesses? With the arrival of Subway, Starbucks, Costa and Dunelm Mill, established Island businesses such as French Franks, LoveCoffee, Caffe Isola and traditional ironmonger and household shop Hurst are under added pressure to encourage customers to choose them over the well-known names. The ‘Queen of Shops’ and government retail czar Mary Portas, tasked with rejuvenating the nation’s town centres, claimed recently big chains won’t be joining high streets any longer due to the rise in online shopping. The Daily Mail, however, reported her claims were criticised by Bill Grimsey, former boss of Wickes and Iceland. The former DIY and frozen food chief has presented his alternative report on the state of high streets in which he warned 20,000 independent shops faced closure and called for a new vision to save the High Street. Various independent shops and businesses, some fixtures of the Island’s streets for more than a hundred years,
SARA BRYCE looks at the Island’s changing high streets
BEHIND THE NEWS have been lost in recent times. Dabells, which first opened its doors as a drapery on Newport High Street in 1911 and closed at the end of last year, was a well-known and well-loved Island institution and has left an empty corner
on Town Lane. Owner David Edwards closed the family business, which he’d owned for 44 years, as he was approaching his 70th birthday and none of his family members wanted to take it on. He said in an interview with the County Press last year: “It’s the end of an era but there is no-one in the next generation who wants to carry on, so one has to be realistic.” Mr Edwards’s family may simply have not wanted to take on the family business, or they may have felt the overwhelming pressure of having to compete against superstores such as Dunelm Mill on Riverway, Newport. One Island businessman tried to compete with international sporting goods chain Sports Direct and paid the price. Roger Sanders, former owner of family-run sports shop Sanders Sports on the High Street, Newport, felt forced to close his business after 17 years in 2008, when sales dropped by 70 per cent after the sporting giant opened its doors on South Street, Newport. He said: “We soon realised we were going to get blown out of the water. There used to be around 3,500 independent sports shops in the country but there’s only about 600
A butcher with 40 years’ experience, Paul Murphy believes the high street does have a future and is opening a new shop in Shanklin. 0913-L53700
The Sanders family ran a successful town centre shop but now concentrate on online sales. Pictured, from left, are director and warehouse manager Roger Sanders, sales and distributor Luke Gates and managing director Martin Sanders. Below, one of the global names new to the Island. 0913-L53688/p59257 left since Sports Direct started.” Roger, his wife, Teresa, and son, Martin, had prepared themselves for the decline in their business and opened online goal-keeping store, www.great-save.com, now run from Shalfleet. Roger said: “As I look at the packages we’re sending out today I can see they’re going out to Queensland in Australia, Tennessee, Arizona, Marseilles, Dublin, California and London. “We went from doing all of our business on the IW to practically none. Statistically we now do more business in Russia than on the Island.” He added: “As an independent you cannot compete with multinationals and we were trying to compete with one of the most aggressive. “Customers aren’t loyal, they go where things are cheapest, but then they come up and say how much they miss us on the high street.” Paul Wyatt, owner of Jaks Hair and Beauty and committee member of the Ryde Business Association thinks the Island’s limited population makes it more susceptible to the power of wellknown brands. He said: “The Island is different to the mainland because we don’t have millions of people. Portsmouth and Southampton have lots of people going through all year round. “In our town centres there’s a community spirit and if we lose the town centres, that will go. The old saying ‘use it or lose it’ comes to mind. “Something has got to give and it will always be the small businessman that packs up and goes home.” Paul stressed having a chain store join a high street was not always a bad thing. “Sainsbury’s may be coming to Union Street in Ryde and we would be glad to have it as it will draw people in to the area and they will looking at our shops around it,” said Paul. The opening of Subway sandwich shop in Town Lane, Newport, could have impacted on nearby French Franks, but owner Mark Horton feels his company’s commitment
to locally sourced, fresh food and a personal service sets them apart from the international chain. He said: “We prepare everything fresh every day. It’s up to businesses to be better than the competition.”
around the Island with owners believing they can overcome their global competition. Butcher of 40 years, Paul Murphy, is opening new butchers shop, Paul Murphy Butchers, on Regent Street Shanklin, and hopes to recre-
He added: “However. one concern for independent businesses is visitors to towns will look for familiar brands. But it is part of ongoing change and bemoaning it will not stop it. “We are positive about the future, there is merit in simply not being a multinational and doing really well the things they cannot. We have to engage the customers because it is they who really dictate the future shape of the high street and, in large part, the Island economy.” New independent businesses are still opening
ate the golden age of shopping with a personal experience and knowledgeable and friendly shopkeepers. He said: “Personally, I feel it is the perfect time. The economy is moving and customers know their food now and want quality, especially after the horse meat fiasco. “I want to get people away from the supermarket and to have quality meat, most of which is from the Island itself.” He added: “I want an oldfashioned shop, with a butcher there behind the counter, who knows all about his prod-
ucts — the old way is a good way and we want to bring that back. I am very confident this is going to work.” At the end of the month, Island MP Andrew Turner is bringing rural economy experts from the New Economics Foundation to meet with Island businesses and discuss how they can secure private investment and grow their economies. He said: “There are encouraging signs the UK economy is returning to growth, the Island must not miss out.” Roger Sanders, however, feels the end is nigh for the independents. He said: “It started with the supermarkets and as soon as they started building outside the towns, they started killing the town centres. “The business rates are ridiculous and the council need to offer free parking in towns at the weekends. When a dance shop took over our old premises they opened and were closed within five months.” He added: “I don’t see any future for independent businesses on the high street. It’s sad but, unfortunately, it’s just progress.”
Newport High Street — unique or just like every other high street around the country? 0913-p59258
Our front-page picture shows Catherine Grimshaw playing sea shanties at the Spyglass,Ventnor, part of the Festival of the Sea. Picture by ASHLEY VAUGHN: 0913-V02355
behind the news
weekender
3
Can our high streets be saved? BIG name chains are hitting the IW’s streets — but are they welcome brands or do they spell the end for the Island’s independent businesses? With the arrival of Subway, Starbucks, Costa and Dunelm Mill, established Island businesses such as French Franks, LoveCoffee, Caffe Isola and traditional ironmonger and household shop Hurst are under added pressure to encourage customers to choose them over the well-known names. The ‘Queen of Shops’ and government retail czar Mary Portas, tasked with rejuvenating the nation’s town centres, claimed recently big chains won’t be joining high streets any longer due to the rise in online shopping. The Daily Mail, however, reported her claims were criticised by Bill Grimsey, former boss of Wickes and Iceland. The former DIY and frozen food chief has presented his alternative report on the state of high streets in which he warned 20,000 independent shops faced closure and called for a new vision to save the High Street. Various independent shops and businesses, some fixtures of the Island’s streets for more than a hundred years,
SARA BRYCE looks at the Island’s changing high streets
BEHIND THE NEWS have been lost in recent times. Dabells, which first opened its doors as a drapery on Newport High Street in 1911 and closed at the end of last year, was a well-known and well-loved Island institution and has left an empty corner
on Town Lane. Owner David Edwards closed the family business, which he’d owned for 44 years, as he was approaching his 70th birthday and none of his family members wanted to take it on. He said in an interview with the County Press last year: “It’s the end of an era but there is no-one in the next generation who wants to carry on, so one has to be realistic.” Mr Edwards’s family may simply have not wanted to take on the family business, or they may have felt the overwhelming pressure of having to compete against superstores such as Dunelm Mill on Riverway, Newport. One Island businessman tried to compete with international sporting goods chain Sports Direct and paid the price. Roger Sanders, former owner of family-run sports shop Sanders Sports on the High Street, Newport, felt forced to close his business after 17 years in 2008, when sales dropped by 70 per cent after the sporting giant opened its doors on South Street, Newport. He said: “We soon realised we were going to get blown out of the water. There used to be around 3,500 independent sports shops in the country but there’s only about 600
A butcher with 40 years’ experience, Paul Murphy believes the high street does have a future and is opening a new shop in Shanklin. 0913-L53700
The Sanders family ran a successful town centre shop but now concentrate on online sales. Pictured, from left, are director and warehouse manager Roger Sanders, sales and distributor Luke Gates and managing director Martin Sanders. Below, one of the global names new to the Island. 0913-L53688/p59257 left since Sports Direct started.” Roger, his wife, Teresa, and son, Martin, had prepared themselves for the decline in their business and opened online goal-keeping store, www.great-save.com, now run from Shalfleet. Roger said: “As I look at the packages we’re sending out today I can see they’re going out to Queensland in Australia, Tennessee, Arizona, Marseilles, Dublin, California and London. “We went from doing all of our business on the IW to practically none. Statistically we now do more business in Russia than on the Island.” He added: “As an independent you cannot compete with multinationals and we were trying to compete with one of the most aggressive. “Customers aren’t loyal, they go where things are cheapest, but then they come up and say how much they miss us on the high street.” Paul Wyatt, owner of Jaks Hair and Beauty and committee member of the Ryde Business Association thinks the Island’s limited population makes it more susceptible to the power of wellknown brands. He said: “The Island is different to the mainland because we don’t have millions of people. Portsmouth and Southampton have lots of people going through all year round. “In our town centres there’s a community spirit and if we lose the town centres, that will go. The old saying ‘use it or lose it’ comes to mind. “Something has got to give and it will always be the small businessman that packs up and goes home.” Paul stressed having a chain store join a high street was not always a bad thing. “Sainsbury’s may be coming to Union Street in Ryde and we would be glad to have it as it will draw people in to the area and they will looking at our shops around it,” said Paul. The opening of Subway sandwich shop in Town Lane, Newport, could have impacted on nearby French Franks, but owner Mark Horton feels his company’s commitment
to locally sourced, fresh food and a personal service sets them apart from the international chain. He said: “We prepare everything fresh every day. It’s up to businesses to be better than the competition.”
around the Island with owners believing they can overcome their global competition. Butcher of 40 years, Paul Murphy, is opening new butchers shop, Paul Murphy Butchers, on Regent Street Shanklin, and hopes to recre-
He added: “However. one concern for independent businesses is visitors to towns will look for familiar brands. But it is part of ongoing change and bemoaning it will not stop it. “We are positive about the future, there is merit in simply not being a multinational and doing really well the things they cannot. We have to engage the customers because it is they who really dictate the future shape of the high street and, in large part, the Island economy.” New independent businesses are still opening
ate the golden age of shopping with a personal experience and knowledgeable and friendly shopkeepers. He said: “Personally, I feel it is the perfect time. The economy is moving and customers know their food now and want quality, especially after the horse meat fiasco. “I want to get people away from the supermarket and to have quality meat, most of which is from the Island itself.” He added: “I want an oldfashioned shop, with a butcher there behind the counter, who knows all about his prod-
ucts — the old way is a good way and we want to bring that back. I am very confident this is going to work.” At the end of the month, Island MP Andrew Turner is bringing rural economy experts from the New Economics Foundation to meet with Island businesses and discuss how they can secure private investment and grow their economies. He said: “There are encouraging signs the UK economy is returning to growth, the Island must not miss out.” Roger Sanders, however, feels the end is nigh for the independents. He said: “It started with the supermarkets and as soon as they started building outside the towns, they started killing the town centres. “The business rates are ridiculous and the council need to offer free parking in towns at the weekends. When a dance shop took over our old premises they opened and were closed within five months.” He added: “I don’t see any future for independent businesses on the high street. It’s sad but, unfortunately, it’s just progress.”
Newport High Street — unique or just like every other high street around the country? 0913-p59258
Our front-page picture shows Catherine Grimshaw playing sea shanties at the Spyglass,Ventnor, part of the Festival of the Sea. Picture by ASHLEY VAUGHN: 0913-V02355
