Open for business
/I took a sunny, leisurely wander around Wimbledon Village last week, it was lovely to see the mixture of shops and cafes, independent and larger brands emerging out of lockdown and warmly welcoming customers safely into their stores. Everyone was genuinely happy to see each other, there was a buzz in the air and the retail world felt extremely friendly, inclusive and helpful along with an authentic urgency in offering customers what they needed.
This local shopping area with smaller shops, felt safe, kind, and community driven, far more preferable than traveling to a bigger city center with larger stores and many more people. Despite new ways of shopping being implemented, customers and store teams were enjoying the environment and lapping up the human to human interaction we have all been craving.
I don't know how long this positivity will last if areas get busier, if we need to stand in queues for longer, if it pours with rain, or if we enter a second lockdown period, but I truly hope that we are seeing a resurgence in shopping local, and retailers deeply thinking about what customers need and how they want to shop. Consumers are becoming more discerning in how they spend their money, picking brands that align with their own values from a sustainable, ethical and social perspective, therefore there is a opportunity for retailers to make important changes to how they operate and build something better.
