We speak to the people of Cardiff about the city’s independent shops, and whether more needs to be done to keep them going.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I feel like, yeah, 100%, I know loads of small businesses around here, a couple of my friends
00:05start small businesses as well. I just feel like it makes starting, you know, like you
00:11said, we've got loads of big brands.
00:12Yeah, well, I'm literally heading off to the Coors Canaff shop now to pick up some cheese.
00:16So yeah, let's go to a lot of 100 shops and stuff, and pubs and bars. So yeah, very much
00:20so.
00:21I live in Liverpool, and you've got a similar mix of a lot of the big places, but you've
00:26got the small indie places. I just think in order for them to keep going, people have
00:31to visit them, you know, especially like independent bookshops.
00:37Cardiff has plenty of independents, but walking down some of the arcades, which have long
00:40been the best place to find them, you can't keep count of all the empty shopfronts. Some
00:45like Hobo's, Wally's Cadellicatessent, or Spillers Records have been here for decades.
00:49There's so many come and go, and people in Cardiff say they want to see more help for
00:54small businesses.
00:55The thing is, I think it's just, I think the big thing to it is obviously money. With the
00:59cost of living and everything, it's a big one, you know. I'm not very educated in that
01:05kind of aspect, you know, I'm only young, but I don't think I'd ever try to do anything
01:09like that. The sole reason being is money, I think.
01:12Yeah, it would be nice, yeah, of course. Or like a small independent company. Yeah, of
01:18course I would, yeah. Yeah, it would be nice. But yeah, the state of the high street now,
01:22you know, I think there's more clothes shops than there is Uber now, so yeah, something
01:28needs to change.
01:29I mean, the arcades has had a couple of losses recently. There's always new stuff popping
01:33up, so I wouldn't say it's dying, it's maybe struggling a little bit.
01:39Local shops make a city what it is. They make it unique and different to cities around them,
01:43and the people of Cardiff say they love our independent retailers and want to see more
01:47all around the city.
01:49You've got Catey's, you've got, you know, Roast, all those areas. The small business
01:54is nice to support them, especially the local people as well. And yeah, you would rather
01:59shop there. It could be a little bit more expensive, but yeah, I suppose these big stores
02:04are taking over, aren't they? But you've seen a lot of shops closed down now, so, due to
02:10the internet, is it, I suppose? Yeah.
02:11Well, I don't live in Cardiff, but I'm only here for work this week, but I think the independent
02:17shops, I mean, we've been looking specifically, so if I want a coffee, I've been trying to
02:21find somewhere independent. I've just bought some Welsh cakes from an independent place
02:27in the market that was recommended, so I think, you know, small business is really, really
02:31important.
02:32I think Cardiff is unique, yeah. You know, you go to a small shop and you look whatever
02:38they have to offer, and whatever, I know perhaps there could be, you know, less, some shop
02:44minds, they open and they think they could charge a bit less, but they're not. It's worth
02:54a shop sometimes, they're more expensive, but that's how it goes, anyway.