Christmas shoppers urged to support independents

Independent retailers are urging people to support local shops this Christmas, "or the town centres will die".

Frome has a flourishing independent retail scene, with dozens of locally owned shops and cafes, but even here, campaigners are warning local stores are at risk.

Town councillor Nick Dove said: "If we don't support local businesses, the town centre will die.

"It will be boarded up, or just full of houses and flats."

Small independent shops are facing a "perfect storm" of pressures, according to some owners in the town.

Just emerging from the pandemic, many are paying off government Covid "bounce back" loans.

They are facing huge increases in energy bills, just as their customers are looking to cut their spending.

So how are the town's retailers faring this Christmas?

Catherine Hill is the town's most famous independent street.

Regularly featured in national newspapers, its cobbles wind up the hill out of the town centre. There are vintage fashions, unique handmade gifts and even an artisan ironmonger.

I popped into BonBon Chic, a gift shop crammed with colour. There are scarves and necklaces, novelty tree decorations and, this year's hit, mini stuffed Santas.

Owner Sharon Hall told me spending is down this year.

She said: "People are dropping down to below the £15 probably.

"Some people say they're dropping the adults and just doing the children, some people are doing secret Santas, just one major."

Yet Frome residents are stubbornly supporting their local traders. The 'Hunting Raven' bookshop is still doing well, and for many it seems more than just a shopping choice to come here.

Manager Tina Gaisford Waller said: "People are saying, 'We want to buy our books from you, we don't want to buy from an online bookstore'."

There was a steady stream of browsers and buyers in her shop, and trade was looking fairly healthy.

In fact, she is not worried about Christmas, it's next year that she sees trouble coming.

She said: "I just think people struggle not to spend at Christmas. If there is pain to come, we're looking at the other side of Christmas, people making tough decisions when the bills start to land."

I met Councillor Nick Dove in a pretty little café on Catherine Hill. He too insisted that shopping local is not just a consumer choice, a way to find distinctive presents away from the chain stores. For him, it's about the health of the whole town.

He said: "If people come into an independent café like this one, then the money they spend goes into the local economy, it's not taken out by a big multinational, owned by a hedge fund somewhere else.

"So we are urging people to support our locally owned stores this Christmas, for everyone's sake."

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