Small shops could ‘vanish in 10 years’

Small, independent stores could disappear completely from the UK’s high streets over the next decade, a group of MPs has warned.

The growing power of supermarkets and their extended reach into local communities has put the country’s small, high street retailers at terminal risk, according to a report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Small Shops.

The report, High Street Britain: 2015, warns of potential social and economic knock-on effects, as well as environmental consequences, for many communities across Britain, as retail giants like Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and others open premises just outside towns and “aggressively compete” against their smaller, high-street rivals.

Continuous mergers and predatory pricing schemes are blamed for driving many independent retailers out of business, as well as the chain stores’ ability to offer greater parking.

As a result, the parliamentary group predicts that the UK’s high streets will be virtually free of independent retailers by 2015, with newsagents and post offices likely first to go, followed by convenience stores.

The report suggested introducing a new retail regulator, temporarily suspending mergers, closing the Channel Island VAT loophole and extending the supplier code of practice to cover the non-food sector.

MPs laid particular criticism upon regulators who they say have failed to preserve competitiveness on the high streets.

Business and retail lobby organisations have for months petitioned the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to review its position on supermarkets. The OFT’s chief executive John Fingleton, however, has stated that the regulator is in the business of protecting competition, not protecting companies that fail to compete.

“The report is further proof that small shops are being bullied out of the market and that the OFT must look again at this issue,” said Clive Davenport, trade and industry chairman. “If nothing is done small shops will disappear from the local communities that depend on them and there will be less choice for consumers.”

Nick Goulding, chief executive of the Forum of Private Business (FPB), added: “The loss of small shops will damage the UK socially economically and environmentally…consumers and communities will suffer unless something is done to help independent shops compete.

“Restricted choice of products and shopping locations and higher prices are rightly identified as strong possibilities by 2015.”