Many of you will be familiar with our annual Local Shop Report, the third edition of which we published in September amidst a flurry of media activity about the resilience and success of the convenience sector. What you may not know is that we also take the findings directly to the heart of government, presenting to officials in different departments that consult on policy decisions which could potentially affect local shops.
We explained not only the success of the sector, but also the pressures that store owners are under. To explain this fully, we took the officials to visit a number of stores and give them a first-hand experience of what it’s like to run a modern local shop.
Inviting officials and MPs into shops may seem like a simple thing to do, but the importance of allowing them to see for themselves what’s happening in the sector and to speak to those who run stores about the challenges they face cannot be underestimated. Inviting your MP, councillors and local authorities to your store is a great way to ensure they are committed to supporting local shops. We can provide you with constituency cards that outline the facts of the contribution that local shops make to the economy and the jobs they create in your area, but it’s up to you to provide examples from your business that demonstrate the passion you have for retailing and community engagement.
Setting up a store visit is easy. By putting your postcode into a tool on the ACS website, we will generate an email to your MP asking for a store visit. You can also get in touch with us directly if you would like a constituency card for your area.
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