10-08-2007
Small businesses advised on how to be different
Differentiating themselves from the major supermarkets by providing separate services is the way forward for convenience stores, a trade body has claimed.
Unfair buying prices between large and small businesses can be tackled by offering services which the larger shops do not provide, such as home delivery and paper rounds, the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) said today.
Shane Brennan, a spokesperson for the ACS, said: "Independent stores are finding it harder to compete and we are seeing more closures of independent businesses over the last three to four years."
"Small businesses are about putting themselves in places where people live. Groups like the elderly or those who don't have cars really do lose out if small businesses go out of their areas."
Earlier this year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found that the UK produces 58 per cent of its food, down from 70 per cent ten years ago.
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