When my dear friend Tony Robinson and I launched Enterprise Rockers in January this year, a movement to make life in micro business better and fairer, I pledged to only shop Indie from then on. It might of been beneficial however for me to have taken a good look around my home town of Scarborough, UK before I made this pledge. Since January I have identified just how many things I am unable to buy from Indies in my home town and this then raises the question – which is more important Shop Indie or Shop Local?
Can a consumer satisfy even their basic needs if all they do is shop with independent retailers?
My main concern was food when I headed off down the Indie only road but as we have an independent supermarket, Proudfoots, with 3 stores around Scarborough, one of which contains a fabulous butchery department and all of which are stocked with products from local producers, I knew I had this one covered. I also decided I would purchase from the Co-Op because of their business structure so that along with a great Greengrocer, Trev, and a local independent Bakery, the Foodie in me was happy; we do love good food in the Boden household!
So my general everyday shopping needs are catered for but I have two big issues; make up and knickers ! Not things you buy everyday I know but items that, as the only female in my house, are far more important to me than anyone else that lives with me. In fact if I am perfectly honest the men in my life don’t completely understand why I have taken the Indie only pledge anyway, my darling husband thinks it is just putting my already hectic life under even more stress. But the make up and knickers issue still remains; I just can’t get them from the Indies in my home town.
A pledge based the importance of keeping Independent Retailers alive!
As far as I am concerned it is the principal of Indie only shopping that keeps me going. I love chatting to the micro business owners about their shops, the highs and the lows they are experiencing and encouraging them to trade with each other (I am sure some of them think I am mad) For some time, at the start of our current credit crunch, my husband Neal and I owned a children’s continental clothes and shoe shop in a North Yorkshire market town. I found retailing very frustrating not least because people would travel to major cities to buy high street copies of the quality stock we sold; stock that people perceived to be too expensive for their pocket though they had never stepped through the door to find out.
I am therefore supporting the importance of keeping Indie retailers alive; I believe they offer better service, go that extra mile and want to ensure customer satisfaction – not always but in most cases.
If I have to travel to the next town or city to find an Indie that can offer what I need is that such a problem or should I be supporting all of the high street stores in my local town?
For me it will be Indie wherever I can!
This blog was written by Tina Boden, Micro-business owner, Entrepreneur, co-Founder of Enterprise Rockers and passionate supporter of Independent Retailers – where ever you are! 🙂
About Clare Bailey
Clare Bailey, The Retail Champion (formerly Clare Rayner), is one of the most well-known and respected retail experts in the UK. With unrivalled knowledge in retail, high streets and consumer matters, she offers unbiased, independent content – whether engaged as a professional speaker, for broadcast media, or for a written feature.
Clare is a business woman, entrepreneur and founder of several small businesses. Having been born into a family of successful business owners, it was inevitable that she’d eventually jump off the corporate treadmill and step out on her own! Today her brand portfolio includes The Retail Champion, The Retail Conference, the Future High Street Summit and the Support for Independent Retail campaign. In addition, she is co-founder of Mobaro Retail UK and a non-exec director of Beed Virtual Assistant Services.
Having started her career as a fast-track store management trainee for McDonalds, she went on to work with leading retailers such as M&S, Dixons and Argos. She moved swiftly into management roles before being headhunted into senior consulting roles with global software giant SAP, and international management consulting brand, Accenture.
Her corporate background in senior retail, consulting and technology roles, coupled with her experience of creating and running her own business, has enabled her to be equally capable whether consulting to global brands or micro businesses. This unique blend has not only positioned her as a leading expert in all things retail, but has enabled her to add meaningful commentary and insight to the debate around the future of the high street, and, how technology is driving fundamental change in the way consumers, and businesses, interact.
Clare has become an influential voice in her field, which has resulted in her becoming a regular media contributor and sought-after conference speaker. Often seen on Good Morning Britain, BBC Breakfast, Sky News, and Chanel 5 (to name a few), Clare speaks on a myriad of retail, high street and consumer issues – but is particular adept when it comes to explaining the context behind retail trading results, newly released data, and government stats, in a palatable and informative manner.
In addition to broadcast and conference speaking, Clare is the proud author of two best-selling business books published by Kogan Page - The Retail Champion: 10 Steps to Retail Success, published July 2012 and How to Sell to Retail: The Secrets of Getting Your Product to Market, published February 2013. She has provided contributions to various academic texts, including Retail Marketing Management (published by Pearson).
With an engaging, conversational yet informative style, Clare writes for press and content agencies, providing features, articles, blogs and opinion pieces as well as contributions to white papers and reports.
However, when the situation demands a more serious style, Clare can deliver - In 2016 she wrote an extensive report for a major insurance and risk law firm, as a retail expert witness, to support a public liability suit. She found that project particularly enjoyable as it played well to her strengths – assimilating large amounts of data and information, identifying the key points and articulating that in an understandable manner.
When not on TV or speaking at conferences, Clare’s “day job” sees her supporting consumer-facing businesses through her consultancy services.
When asked to describe what she most loves about retail consulting it is typically the opportunity to “dig deep”, getting “under the bonnet”, in order to leverage the business data to uncover the insights that lead to “lightbulb moments”. She also loves working on business change programmes that centre on improving the processes and systems to increase profitability by supporting more rapid, better informed decision making, improving the customer experience, or simply by become more efficient and streamlined. In this respect she considers herself a “business engineer” with a brain that works like a relational database! Due to her years of experience, her logical, objective approach, her quick, rational thinking, she is known for being able to cut through complexity, seeing right through to the crux of issues, finding creative solutions that others may have overlooked.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Clare is a working mum, juggling a home life in rural Lincolnshire with her partner, their 5 kids, 4 cats, and geriatric Labrador!
For all enquiries, contact Clare directly on 01727 238890 or email champion@retailchampion.co.uk.
Independent Retail 
Interesting post. I worked with a local indie retailer in Derbyshire recently: we completed a high street survey of shopping behaviour. We found only 20% respondents believed indies would be more expensive than “big chain”. We also found 72% were happier shopping local indie though only 43% managed to actually do so. The reason? Same as yours: 52% respondents said they’d shop more local indie if there were greater choice/availability
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