Originally Posted by
cptdodger
I'll be honest with you, I was trying to be polite about the PDF, to me it was an just an exercise in let's show the locals we are trying to do something, then they will leave us alone sort of thing. There is just nothing sustainable in it, well not without a lot, and I mean a lot of investment. But, they have to get the basics right. I come from a retail background which included 24hr opening, and I mean 24 hour, from 8am Monday morning until 10pm Saturday night (this was England) now I'm not by any means suggesting the little shops do this, however I remember the ship "The World" docked just outside Wick a couple of years back and the shop owners bemoaning the fact no money was spent in the local shops. It's a bit difficult when a lot of the shops still close at lunch time, and basically close when they feel like it. The same can be said for Thurso, when the cruise ships and coaches are in, to my knowledge there is no late night opening (usually Thursday in other places) very few shops/cafes open before 9am, and even less open on a Sunday, even on the run up to Christmas.
There is a lot of people say Tesco's took the trade away from the little shops, or should I say, independent retailers. Well that could be because Tesco's are there for the convenience of the customers, they do'nt close at lunch time, they are open until quite late in the evening. If you close your shop at 5pm and people do'nt finish work until 5 or 6 pm, where are they going to go? Also, the internet is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
While people will say, this is the way we do things like it or lump it, that's fine, but do'nt moan when the tourists whip over to Orkney as fast as they can and spend money which should have been in the shopkeepers pocket, over there.
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