Where do we get the next generation of #highstreet shopkeepers from.
The question was prompted by looking through the list of suggestions on our previous post which asked for “a list of new shops you’d love to see in our town or city centres, something that you personally would make the journey in to use, and do so often enough that (with others doing the same) the owner can run it viably, long term.”
Suggestions included:
- bookshops
- eco / refill, zero waste store
- grocers, butchers, bakers
- toy shop
- baby equipment centre
- clothes shop
- hardware / DIY store
& more, but do check out the full list on that thread.
So how do we help make that happen. Is there some kind of national initiative we can turn to in one or more of those sectors to deliver a group of would-be new owners….? Or is it something each local tackling vacancy ‘place partnership’ will need do for itself…?
What do you think…?
To me the options look like:
- existing #retail businesses expanding into a second town centre based on the success of their first;
- markets or trade shows or online giving people a start they can then build on by taking a shop;
- for arts & crafts, creative, a makers collective producing spin off ventures from amongst the team;
- children of existing owners continuing the family business or similar;
- some kind of industry training scheme;
- career change with people leaving ‘a job in the city’ to open up on their own;
- schools and colleges and towns themselves facilitating ‘markets’ for students to sell things they’ve made.
What have I missed…?
And before I get the Pollyanna comparison again, I understand that who’ll run these new shops is only one on a long list of challenging considerations we need to tackle, but please bear with…
