National Cuppa Day

For many years we have backed and firmly believed in the principle of My Shop is Your Shop (MSYS). It is a fantastic campaign bringing to the attention of consumers the need for community stores and the importance that these stores hold in the future maintenance and development of community within their locality.

Last month Sugro participated in MSYS during National Independent's Week, and specifically the central event, National Cuppa Day. I went out with Chris Rolfe, a journalist from Retail Newsagent, and we had an excellent morning visiting retailers in the Manchester area who were participating in the event and enjoying a cup of tea with their customers. I do believe that the campaign in its current format will always connect with existing customers. However, having been on the shop floor during the event, I can see that there is a requirement to gear up the community store campaign directed primarily at UK consumers. They need to understand the importance of protecting community stores, whether they are independent or on the high street, in order to avoid the growth of the 'clone city'. We don't need to encourage behemoth retail businesses that support corporate goals, we need to support individuals who provide a community service aimed at local customers. Therefore, I will be looking to convince the FWD to drive this campaign in a much bigger way, directly towards the conscience of consumers and the eradication of cloning throughout our towns and cities.