Wiltshire high streets in need after mixed pre-Christmas period
It's been suggested that pre-Christmas sales grew just 0.4%
Concerns have been raised about the future of smaller businesses in Wiltshire after pre-Christmas sales that are thought to be weaker than expected.
Industry data suggests shop prices could rise this year, because of a weak pre-Christmas trading period.
Sales in the three-months to December grew just 0.4%
The British Retail Consortium has also said the ‘Golden Quarter’ didn’t deliver the festive boost retailers had hoped for, who suspect cautious spending from households.
Sam Holliday from the Wiltshire Federation of Small Businesses says it's a worry as the high street is the lifeblood of all our economies.
"Small businesses are what will keep us going back there. We can all do business online, but you don't get the same standard of service and quality that you get from your local shops," he said.
He added that the full extent of the pre-Christmas period is not yet known: "The indications are that it wasn't brilliant, but it wasn't as disastrous as some were fearing. So we just got to hope that enough money was made in that run up to Christmas to get people through the early months."
It's possible that shop owners will have to raise prices, but Sam told us that's not through greed.
"It's the retailers trying to actually stay alive. It's the retailers trying to stay open because, you know, their goods are increasing all the time, their staff costs are increasing all the time," Sam said.
He continued: "We've got to put the heater on at this time of year and that will add to adds to the burden as well. So we need as much support as we can from local people to their local shops because if we don't, then we are going to start losing shops."
While concerns remain, Sam said high streets across the South West appear to still be busy.
Sam said: "It does seem quite lively. There's a lot of people out there, but we always say don't just look at how many people are in the shopping centre, look at how many bags they're carrying. Are they actually buying or are they window shopping?"
He's calling for us to support businesses in the early weeks of 2025: "What we do know about small businesses is they're incredibly resilient and they've been through so much over the last few years and there's still a lot of them there.
"We just hope that you know, this next couple of months aren't as bad as some people are saying and we can get through it and then maybe brighter times around the corner."