What Snow Reveals About Independent Retailers
This week in Alnwick, the snow did what snow always does.
It sorted the wheat from the chaff.
Footfall dipped.
A couple of team members couldn’t get in.
The shop was quieter than usual.
And do you know what quieter often means in an independent business?
You pick up a shovel.
Over the course of three or four days (it’s a big retail park), every entrance to our shop was cleared.
Paths gritted. Ice dealt with, properly and safely.
Not because head office told us to.
Not because there was a policy document.
Just because it needed doing.
What made me smile was looking around the retail park.
Big box stores. Big teams. Big car parks.
Large sections untouched.
Entrances still icy.
Access restricted.
Health and safety Perhaps?
Or “waiting for approval”.
In the end, we even found ourselves clearing shared paths and entrances too - simply so customers could get around safely.
I’m not knocking them. They’re playing a different game.
But this week was a reminder of something I deeply admire about independent retailers - we think on our feet.
When it’s quiet, we don’t fold our arms.
We adapt. We improve. We get stuck in.
In the end, this isn’t really about snow, shovels or even footfall.
It’s about mindset.
Independent retailers don’t wait for perfect conditions.
We work with what’s in front of us.
We take responsibility for our patch - inside and out - because it’s our name above the door.
That willingness to adapt, to roll up your sleeves and crack on, is what keeps independent shops relevant in every season, not just the easy ones.
And when retailers with that mindset get together, share ideas and challenge each other, that’s when things really start to move.
That’s the thinking behind Impact Retail Success Club, a place for independent butchers and farm shop owners who want to keep improving, whatever the weather.
And this week, how about being proud of what you do and enjoy the challenges of being an independent retail business.
Have a great week.
Mark
