Use local shops or lose them. That was the reaction today after a new report warned of businesses collapsing like a pack of cards.
The decline in neighbourhood shops and services is set to produce a catastrophic downward economic spiral, according to the New Economics Foundation.
The report, Ghost Town Britain, releases new projections that show the perilous state of local economies across the country.
Around 28,000 shops will be lost by 2005, it forecasts. If current trends continue, the number of local shops will have dropped by nearly a third between 1990 and 2010.
The report indicates that a quarter of all local businesses in low income areas are shops. Ron Price, member services manager at the South Essex Chamber of Commerce, said: "This is not a new theory, it is something that has been going on for a number of years.
"If you compare the number of corner and convenience stores to the amount we had a few years ago, the numbers must be down by 50 per cent or more.
"In Southend, we have Lakeside and a host of large out-of-town supermarkets and that will take business away from local shops. Businesses can only survive if they get enough trade, so the message about local shops is clear - use them or lose them."
Published Tuesday, December 17, 2002
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