Importance of our local shops (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Importance of our local shops

8:51am Friday 29th January 2010

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Sir.–Following the recent snow and the associated difficulties when it came to shopping for the usual essentials such as bread and milk, it highlights the importance of local shops.

I refer to a letter in last Thursday’s Gazette where one of your readers was praising John Burton's Food Market for ensuring they had milk and bread for sale when the supermarkets had sold out. Well done Mr Burton.

I wonder how many of his customers had never shopped there before the snow, and won’t be seen again. As the owner of a bakery near Winchester, this was certainly our experience.

Small independent traders need to be used all year round if they are to stay in business for the next time we have a weather crisis.

Mr Burton and many other small traders were certainly putting customer service before profits, but need to be supported all year round and not as a last resort.

–Jason Judd (The Oven Door Bakery, Fair Oak), The Cornfields, Hatch Warrren, Basingstok

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