A new campaign backed by the British Allied Trades Federation (BATF), The Gift-ware, Jewellery Distribution, and British Travel Goods and Leather Accessories Associations was launched today by non-essential retailers to stop others exploiting lockdown loopholes through the global pandemic.
The campaign aims to target authorities to challenge retailers that are taking advantage of the sale of non-essential items such as The Range, Lidl, WHSmiths and B&M Bargains. As it currently stands with data from indieretail.co.uk, for every £1 spent with a local , in-dependent business, between 50p-70p circulates back into the economy. Shopping online or through corporates only generates 5p back into the economy which is a cause for con-cern for local communities when they need this the most.
The #MakeRetailFair campaign was the brainchild of Nicky Edmunds, owner of gift and homeware shops Insideout, based in Devon. Last weekend she launched a petition which she called her ‘Cry For Help’. She said that parliament was allowing certain retailers to capitalise on other retailers misfortune and described it as ‘discriminatory’.
She said: “It is our belief that the government has lost control of this situation and that they need to hear from us; the businesses forced to close because they are deemed non-essential. If we are kept closed whilst ‘essential’ retailers continue to profiteer from the sale of non-essentials, our communities will be unrecognizable in the foreseeable future. In allowing those businesses to sell non-essentials, it is encouraging people to spend with them and no-one else. It will, without doubt, break businesses like ours and in turn, rapidly empty the high street.”
After talking to Sarah Ward, Managing Director of the British Allied Trades Federation (BATF) the #MakeRetailFair campaign was launched. Sarah commented: “If we all have one voice and all work together, then we stand the highest chance of achieving a positive outcome.”
Andrew Goodacre, BIRA’s CEO, said in a recent new release: “The guidelines say that a business must sell a significant amount of essential items to stay open and we want to see the authorities challenge the large general retailer chains (such as the Range, WH Smiths, B&M Bargains etc) on this. If you are a specialist indie retailer, you are literally seeing your products and your livelihood being sold in other non-essential shops.”
Sarah added: “We don’t want the government to put communities at risk by opening up all of retail and increasing the potential spread of COVID-19 if high. Instead, we want to make it fair for all busiensses. If businesses that are usually deep into their busiest time of year are simply surviving instead of thriving, then the bigger retailers should be stopped from capitalising on their advantage.”
