What will happen when the shopping novelty wears off? – Kevin Buckle

It’s no surprise that people flocked to Primark, but the bigger picture is far more mixed, writes Kevin Buckle

Customers queue outside Primark on Princes Street after the restrictions on shop opening were eased (Picture: SNS)

With Avalanche based in the Waverley Mall I had to watch from the sidelines as high street shops reopened so given I didn’t physically go into the city centre I had to rely on the media for news at how the day went.

Unfortunately all I managed to learn was that there had been a large queue at Primark, something which was hardly a surprise. Now I understand that a picture of a large queue looks far better in a paper or on a website than three men and a dog or even worse no queue at all so leading with Primark was understandable but over and over again I would read through an article only to find the piece went no deeper.

Occasionally another chain store might get a mention but how smaller independent businesses were doing remained a mystery. Some articles relied on a few vox pops with people glad and even ecstatic that shops were open but I ended up none the wiser as to how the first day had gone.

The reality is the sort of people who rush out to queue at a shop do not represent the population as a whole and certainly what I have heard from the shops open longer in England is that even those initially busy struggled to maintain not only that level of business but even enough to not be losing money.

On a similar note while Edinburgh Council claims massive support for all its plans to close off roads and create more cycle lanes in truth there is a relatively small number of people who really care about these things and they don’t represent the average resident.

In fact, as the recent large numbers on The Meadows showed, given a choice between extra cycle lanes and hiring more people to collect the rubbish left behind by the crowds on the Meadows the people’s vote would go for selfishly not bothering to take away their rubbish and having somebody else do it.

Now of course I’m not condoning what happened on the Meadows at all but it would be more honest of the council if it stopped claiming to have a public mandate for what it does and admitted it does what it thinks people should want and not what they actually want.

From a business viewpoint, especially those not in the hospitality sector, it is hard to believe that the same enthusiasm will be shown by the council for genuinely supporting local businesses recover once it is clear that a basic shop local campaign is really not going to be enough.

I don’t have any idea how things will settle down but certainly the media can play its part by reporting more accurately how the economic recovery we all hope for progresses rather than concentrating on the extremes of large queues and massive job losses.

The good thing about being a small independent business is that you aren’t looking for approval from the masses just enough support from people who like what you do to keep you afloat in these difficult times.

I’m really looking forward to reopening in the Waverley Mall, and certainly it is going to be a safe place for people to shop in, but more than ever folk are going to need to be tempted out to shops once the post-lockdown novelty has worn off and how successful shops are in doing that will see if they survive beyond Christmas.