How You Can Reap the Rewards of Local Shopping

Over the last decade the trend for out of town shopping has been clear. A lack of time and the promise of lower prices has meant that many families have done the majority of their shopping at large supermarkets, but now the tide does gradually seem to be turning.. and West Malling is a great example of where the High Street and Local Shops are supported and enjoyed by the people who live here and others who come to visit.

The popularity of shopping locally has been growing, and this is illustrated in the campaign that TSB bank used to re-launch last month. Using the strapline ‘welcome back to local banking’ TSB are marketing themselves as a local bank that serves the community, appealing to a growing feeling that people want to support local businesses. Figures released by the British Retail Consortium in April showed that the footfall in the High Street had increased 3.4% from the previous month, which seems to bear out the idea that people are enjoying the benefits of shopping locally. 

So what exactly are those benefits? Here are just a few of the advantages to shopping in your local town or village.

Become more connected with your local community. Commuting to work and popping into the supermarket on your way home can make you feel alienated from the community you live in, while visiting your local High Street can make you feel more involved. Combine shopping with a haircut, a coffee with a friend, or a visit to the local library, and pick up local news and developments as you go

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Abbey Arcade - West Malling High Street

Receive a more personal service. Smaller local shops may not be able to compete on price but they can offer a higher level of service with more personal interaction. Get to know your shopkeeper, ask for advice, or see if they can order particular products that you like. A trip to the supermarket often involves no human interaction at all with the advent of self-checkout, whereas a local shopping trip can be a really sociable experience.

Know the origin of your produce. After the horsemeat issues of the past year many shoppers have wanted to know more about the origins of their food. Supermarket labels will often give the country of origin, but very little additional information about where the product has come from and how it has been produced. On the other hand, when you shop locally, your shopkeeper should be able to provide far more details about the food chain, especially if you shop at a local farmer’s market where the produce will have come direct from local farms.

   

Biffo & Spanky Deli (behind the Farmhouse)

Try something different. When most people visit the supermarket they have a fixed route through the store, buying the same items they are familiar with every time. Supermarkets are generally too large for further exploration and we only usually try something new if it is on special offer. With smaller local shops however, it is far easier to investigate everything they have to offer, and to try out new flavours or varieties that would otherwise have passed us by. 

Enjoy a full sensory experience. While large supermarkets can be a little bland, independent local shops offer a wide experience of sights, sounds, and smells. Local retailers are starting to realise the importance of customer experience in competing with out-of-town or online shops, and are putting a lot of effort into making a visit to their store a unique and enjoyable event. A Saturday morning soaking up the atmosphere of your local shops can be more rewarding than a trip to the nearest retail park. 

Save petrol and get some exercise. Depending on where you live there are probably some shops within walking, or at least cycling distance. Leave the car at home and get some exercise, as well as reducing petrol consumption and helping the environment, when you visit the shops in your locality.

Local shops and services form the heart of our communities, and many people are starting to see the benefits of supporting them. In West Malling we’re lucky enough to have a vibrant centre with independent shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, and a fabulous range of services. A visit to the centre of West Malling can be very rewarding, and you can be sure there will always be something new to catch your eye.

Could Small Business Saturday work in West Malling and the rest of the UK?

Have you heard of Small Business Saturday? If you know about Black Friday and Cyber Monday then you’re almost there; it’s the Saturday in between the two. Black Friday is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States coming immediately after Thanksgiving at the end of November. This has led many large retailers to extend their opening hours and offer fantastic promotions in order to attract shoppers. Cyber Monday is online retail’s chance to shine, and it occurs the Monday after Thanksgiving. 

Realising that local independent business were struggling to compete on these shopping holidays, the concept of Small Business Saturday was created. It happens on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it’s a day when shoppers are encouraged to support small local independent businesses rather than using larger national chain.

Small Business Saturday began in 2010 and was sponsored by American Express who provided coverage and advertising for the event. It has widespread support from celebrities and politicians alike. On Small Business Saturday 2012 even President Obama and his daughters were seen shopping at their local book store. On that day it is reported that Americans spent around $5.5 billion at local independent shops and restaurants

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Social media has played a large role in spreading the word about Small Business Saturday, but this has extended beyond that one specific day of the year. The Twitter hashtag #smallbusinesssaturday is now used on any Saturday in the year to promote independent businesses in much the same way as #followfriday is used to promote Twitter users or businesses on a Friday.   

  

Could Small Business Saturday Work in the UK?

It seems that the idea of launching Small Business Saturday in the UK has been discussed by the government and that American Express has even been asked to consider sponsoring the event in the same way they have in the US.  The suggested date for the first Small Business Saturday is 30 November 2013 as this would encourage shoppers to consider visiting and buying from smaller local retailers during one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. 

In the UK there are already a number of campaigns underway to boost local retail and reverse the decline in local high streets and independent retailers that we have seen in recent years. The Federation of Small Businesses has a Keep Trade Local campaign which aims to encourage local authorities to spend locally, to improve parking for local shops, and to speed up the planning process for local businesses. Mary Portas’ well-known review of UK High Streets recommended a number of ways we can reinvigorate our local retail areas making them social hubs for the community. 

We’d love to hear your views on introducing Small Business Saturday to the UK. In the West Malling area we have a superb number of independent shops and businesses. Would Small Business Saturday inspire you to use a local independent retailer, do you already support your local shops and businesses, or do you think there are other ways we can encourage the use of local businesses?

Why not tour West Malling this weekend - on foot!

As the Bank Holiday weekend approaches most of us will be planning activities for the extra holidays. Instead of getting stuck in the bank holiday traffic as you head out of town, why not search for hidden treasures on your very doorstep and take the West Malling Walking tour?

St. Leonards Tower

West Malling is a medieval town with a fascinating history, and there are plenty of sights to see if we just take the time to look for them.

Start your tour at St. Leonard’s Tower at the south end of West Malling, opposite Manor Country Park. This tower was built by Bishop Gundulf of Rochester around 1080 as a symbol of the might of the new Norman regime, and a secure administrative centre for the parish. Continue up the road past Douce’s Manor, a mansion built in the eighteenth century on the site of a Tudor farmhouse. During the Second World War this was the headquarters for officers from RAF West Malling, and their candle smoke signatures can still be seen on the ceiling of the Twitch Heritage Centre in the basement.

As you approach the town centre the Norman church of St. Mary the Virgin stands on the highest ground in the area with its needle tower which was rebuilt in 1838. Further along the road on the left you’ll see the seventeenth century façade of the Tudor House which hides a medieval interior, as well as the town pump, the eighteenth century gothic Old Vicarage, and two original Georgian town houses, Forsters and Wisteria House.

Saint Mary's Church 

Of the two pubs that face each other at the top of the High Street, the Five Pointed Star was probably the first, constructed around 1380 as a farmhouse where ale may have been brewed. Across the road The Farmhouse, formerly known as The Bear, was a coaching inn famous for a Twisden family duel around 1700.

Continue along the High Street and turn left down West Street where you’ll see The Colonnade, a former malt loft and wagon shed with first floor doors. Turn right along King Street, an ancient Droveway which runs parallel to the High Street. Here you’ll see medieval timber framed buildings with jettied cross wing fronts including Avicia Cottage and The Prior’s House. Many buildings on King Street hide medieval structures behind more recent brick facades.

Looking back up the High Street

Continue along the High Street and turn left down West Street where you’ll see The Colonnade, a former malt loft and wagon shed with first floor doors. Turn right along King Street, an ancient Droveway which runs parallel to the High Street. Here you’ll see medieval timber framed buildings with jettied cross wing fronts including Avicia Cottage and The Prior’s House. Many buildings on King Street hide medieval structures behind more recent brick facades. Re-join the High Street on the green at the end of King Street and take a look at the West Malling Village sign commissioned by the Malling Society. One side shows Bishop Gundulf overseeing the three local Norman towers, while the other shows the cricket match described in Dickens’ Pickwick papers which is believed to have been set in West Malling. You can also see the Millennium bronze sculpture of hope. Across the road the Bull pub is part of an original fifteenth century farmhouse, which was partly demolished when the railway arrived in West Malling.

West Malling

Heading back along the High Street towards the centre, have a look at the fifteenth century house that is now Franks Mussel Bar. In the outer wall at pavement level there is a carved stone figure which is all that remains of the original Market Cross. On the other side of the road were the eighteenth century Assembly Rooms which housed a grand ballroom upstairs, and were later used as a Masonic temple and a magistrate’s court.

Turn left down Swan Street and pop into the Mill Yard and craft centre on your right. As well as a tall stone corn warehouse, there is also a Norman house built around 1160, which may have been
constructed to house important visitors to the Abbey. Further down Swan Street you’ll find the Abbey itself which was a nunnery founded by Bishop Gundulf around 1090. You can still see the original west tower from Swan Street, and the Cascade which originates from the late eighteenth century. On the opposite side of the road Went House and its railings are one of the best examples of Queen Anne architecture in Kent.

Swan Street West Malling

We’re often so busy with our daily routine that we forget to look around us and appreciate the
historic gem we have right here in West Malling, but hopefully this Easter you’ll have the chance to
enjoy it for yourself. Much of the information in this post was taken from the West Malling Town
Walk leaflet which is funded by Kent County Council and The Malling Society, and which is available
at the West Malling library.

We hope you enjoy your walk around West Malling.

Why West Malling Farmers Market is worth a visit

One of the best things about living in the West Malling area is the fantastic Farmers Market that takes place on the 4th Sunday of each month. In fact the next market is just a few days away on 28 April 2013 and we can’t wait to browse the stalls that line the High Street; after all it’s what that beautiful wide road through the centre of the town was designed for.

West Malling Farmers Market

In the national media recently there have been a lot of questions asked about the produce we eat and where it comes from, especially meat and processed foods that we buy in the supermarkets. The concerns over horse meat contamination that have filled the newspapers have only highlighted the fact that as consumers we have very little idea what is in our food, and what happens to it before it arrives on the supermarket shelves. 

Local Produce from Local Producers

A huge advantage of shopping at the West Malling Farmer’s Market is that everything sold there is produced locally and we can have direct contact with the farmers and producers themselves, asking them anything we want to know about the food we are buying. We can choose fresh meat, fish, bread, eggs, fruit, and vegetables direct from the source, and support our local economy at the same time.

As shopping directly from local producers gains popularity, other ways of sourcing local products are starting to appear. A new online service called Farm Drop has begun in London and aims to spread all over the country. Their vision is to bring together regional groups of farmers and producers with local shoppers. The shopper will order online through the Farm Drop website and the farmers will bring the produce to a local venue such as a pub or community centre for a prearranged drop off.  

The ethos of Farm Drop is to use online technology to reconnect farmers and producers with consumers in their region, strengthening local communities. They believe that food sourced locally will be fresher, healthier, and simpler. They also believe that produce sold through Farm Drop can be sensibly priced without producers losing out, because the system will eliminate the transport costs and heavy mark-up often associated with supermarket food.
 

Located in the Garden of England, West Malling is surrounded by farms and local producers, yet a huge proportion of the food we eat is imported from abroad. We all have a fantastic opportunity to choose good value, fresh, local food direct from the producers, whether we visit the farmer’s market, buy from local farm shops, or even set up our own regional Farm Drop.

There is also a Farmers Market that has started at Offham.  This is run on the 2nd Saturday of each month at Spadework in Teston Road, Offham.  With the arrival of Offham Farmers Market too, the West Malling area is lucky to have the benefit of access to 2 markets a month where we can buy local produce and to talk directly to the people who produce it. 

More details on Offham Farmers Market and we will be letting folks know more about the producers and stallholders on the West Malling Local Shops website very soon.

In the meantime, with the warmer weather coming, it's a great month to visit a Farmers Market to catch up on what's available.

Encouraging Retail Growth for February

The great news for retailers in West Malling, and indeed the UK as a whole, is that shopper confidence finally seems to be returning. Last month national retail sales grew at their highest rate in three years according to figures released by the British Retail Consortium.

Gradual improvement and customers feeling a bit more positive

Like-for-like sales figures for February 2013 showed that retail sales had increased 2.7% from the same time last year, which is the highest rate of growth since December 2009. February 2012 had seen a 0.3% decrease from 2011. February is notoriously a difficult month for retail with shoppers still feeling the pinch after Christmas, but this year shops have bucked the trend in what we hope is a sign of good things to come.
Helen Dickinson, Director General of the British Retail Consortium said, "It's reassuring that the sales momentum established during an encouraging January has built not faded. There are certainly highly-welcome signs here of gradual improvement and customers feeling a bit more positive.”

February sales were stimulated by a number of individual factors, but in general these were all linked by one key theme, which was retailers responding to their customers’ needs. The heavy snowfall at the end of January kept many shoppers indoors, so a large number of retailers responded by extending their January sales into February, and apparently reaped the rewards of doing so.

One retail sector that displayed strong growth was gifts, and this was likely to be due to Valentine’s Day halfway through the month, and a fairly early Mother’s day at the beginning of March. Retailers that tailored their product offering to these occasions and spent extra time and effort promoting their gift ranges are sure to have profited. Homeware sales also grew impressively, which may be linked to the recent upturn in the housing market.

Fashion was another sector that performed well and this will have been influenced by London Fashion Week. Shoes are usually the best selling fashion items in February but this year Spring clothing ranges were outselling shoes for a large part of the month. Again, fashion retailers that responded to the trends seen during Fashion Week would have been able to make good use of the momentum it created.

With the arrival of several new shops in West Malling during the beginning of 2013, the signs are good for retailers.  The lastest arrivals in the West Malling High Street include Fragolina - vintage clothes boutique, Number 39 - ladies shoes, bags and accessories and several new shops in Abbey Arcade, including From Mimi - baby and childrens clothing boutique, Baby Bea - for Mum-to-be, new baby and new Mum and All Things Beautiful for home accessories.

Overall these figures are a very positive sign for retailers. While nobody would dispute that times are still hard, it is clear that there are shoppers out there and they are increasingly ready to spend. Retailers that really understand what their customers want, and respond to those needs as well as to local and national events, are likely to be the ones whose businesses survive and grow despite difficult economic times.

West Malling Local Shops Website Project launches

After more than 2 years in the making, different ideas, false starts and various life happenings to trip us up, we have finally launched our new project on February 14 2013 West Malling Local Shops

An exciting and evolving project...... so here's to having reached the starting post.  Now we're off..... join in with us - everyone welcome...

Coming Valentines Day 2013 - West Malling Local Shops

West Malling Local Shops is coming on 14 February 2013 - Valentines Day .. more information to follow shortly .....