Maidstone businessman fears rise in online shopping could close his market
Despite hundreds visiting the high street every day, traditional business owners say shoppers are turning to online shopping which is leading to stores shutting their doors.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Lunchtime in Maidstone. The High Street is full of hundreds out to meet their
00:06 friends, to get some food or perhaps just do a bit of window shopping. But one
00:11 business says although it looks busy most residents out and about are
00:14 actually just looking to do some window shopping and will actually end up buying
00:17 what they want online instead of from the High Street. Chris has earned a living
00:22 on the High Street for close to 30 years selling fresh fruit and veg. The change
00:27 in consumer shopping habits has left him concerned for the future of his business.
00:33 You get a lot of people in Maidstone now but not a lot of shoppers. A lot of
00:38 them are using the shops as window shopping to then go home and order online.
00:42 People coming out for a day out a lot of the time. Don't get me wrong, there's obviously
00:45 still people shopping but not like it used to be. The internet has taken a lot
00:50 of the shopping away from town centres. Obviously very detrimental for me as
00:54 well because less and less people coming into town. All these things are having a
00:58 knock-on and there's so many knock-ons everything can take. Another local man
01:03 who helped design Fremlin Walk says it's the creation of Eclipse Park, a nearby
01:08 retail park, that led big names like M&S and Next to move out of the town. It also
01:14 lost its Zara last month. It's set to be replaced soon. He fears other household
01:20 names will follow suit and soon leave the town. If a retailer can move out of
01:25 town, and they are anchor stores because that's why they're attracting them out of
01:29 town, into a cheaper box, their costs go down, why wouldn't you do that as a
01:35 retailer? But the council should never allow this to happen. They should
01:39 never allow. They've destroyed their own town centre by giving planning permission.
01:42 The leader of Maidstone Borough Council said traditional shopping streets are
01:46 under pressure and we anticipate further consolidation of these areas. Out-of-town
01:52 areas such as Eclipse are another factor and whilst we would perhaps have preferred
01:56 the two retailers there to have remained in the town centre, we have to acknowledge
02:00 that their business model is designed to meet their customers needs and is
02:04 different. They're also developing a town centre strategy aiming to take into
02:08 account trends over the coming decade. In other parts of the high street, stores
02:13 are left with shutters down and empty shelves and little talk of what it's to
02:17 be replaced with. It is horrible when you walk past like Dorothy Perkins right
02:22 next to us and it's all shut up and I say that it seems to be more vape shops
02:27 than anything now in Maidstone which is not very good really for the younger
02:32 generation. It's lovely and very active. I won't use the word active because
02:38 compared to other places I've seen, some high streets like in Chatham is a little
02:43 bit going down but this they've maintained their pace since I came here
02:47 and improving even. I don't even come to town anymore to shop if I want anything
02:52 I buy online now. As the habits of shoppers change, local businesses are
02:56 calling for consumers to think closely about where they're putting their money
03:00 and they're hoping they won't be one of many who've had to close their doors.
03:04 Sophia Aitken for KMTV in Maidstone.