WITH polarisation of almost all shopping into shopping centres, it gets more difficult to take the blinkers off the buying public to see what else exists beyond.
The independents for the most part cannot afford to take on the rent, service charge, rates and staffing costs of being in these centres, so what is the future?
Once-thriving shopping thoroughfares like Union Street don’t stand a chance due to over-inflated rent and rates, the level of which is perpetuated by the success of the centres suggesting that higher rates are justified for all sites.
This runs away with any chance of any profit being directed to re-investment instead of survival.
This stymieing of the possibility of reinvestment to make the shopping experience more varied is extremely destructive.
Weather is another factor, often forgotten, that wreaks havoc on turnover, the public understandably preferring to shop “inside” when inclement weather prevails.
The unpredictability of the weather should be reflected in the business rates, giving the independent some financial opportunity to put cash back into their property, business and promotion of their services in their vicinity, instead of trading hand-to-mouth.
“Move into the centres, then”, I hear you say, but the truth is that owners of the centres tend for the most part to prefer their tenants to be national businesses as they are supposedly “safer” tenants, but these businesses are also the ones who will pull the plug first when the going gets tough.
Safe investment it may be, but doesn’t it ultimately lead to the centres all ending up the same, regardless of which city in the UK you are in?
I believe this philosophy just inflates the rent for everyone, the nationals know that the independent can’t compete and these prime sites in the centres end up being unaffordable.
Independents will work for next to nothing if they see a light at the end of the tunnel, should they not be given the chance?
Landlords/investors would get their return on investment either way, but with more independents the shopping experience would be considerably more varied – to the benefit of the shopper, businesses, investors and the city as a whole.
If you accept that the independent cannot afford to be in the centres, we should try and even out the unfair advantage that the national businesses have by having access to the centres.
Traders such as Andrew Begg are in the city centre, but we’re not as far as the focus of trade is concerned.
I believe that a level playing field can only be achieved by a fairer rating system allowing us to address issues of lower footfall, less appealing areas and higher wage rates.
We need lower rates to be able to reinvest in our businesses and remain competitive, however if lower rates are not an option, why not allow us to offset improvements against our rates?
I do always like to believe that where there is a will ... there is a way!