Locked fridges, empty tills and closing shops: retail is on the brink

Walk down almost any high street and you can see the strain. Chocolate bars locked in cabinets, empty shelves where shops used to trade, and owners working longer hours for less money. Small retailers are being hit from every direction at once — rising bills, higher wages, punishing business rates and now a surge in shoplifting that is pushing already fragile businesses closer to the edge. This isn’t just a crime problem or a cost-of-living story. It’s a warning sign that the economics of running a shop in Britain are starting to break down.

As if life wasn’t tough enough for small businesses in the retail sector at the minute. Already sinking under the weight of rising costs, bills, business rates and wages, they’re also having to deal with rising shoplifting. Even the chocolate bars are going under lock and key.

Shopkeepers in the UK lost almost £400m last year to shoplifters. Apparently violence and abuse fell by a fifth but it’s till higher than during the pandemic and the last year was the second highest on record. What with the costs of doing business and the costs of preventing theft and violence it’s a wonder all our shops haven’t left the high streets.

Those costs eventually have to get passed on to the consumers. There’s only so long a small business owner can go on absorbing increasing costs without putting prices up, Ultimately many are cutting their own salaries or going with wages completely. When you see an empty space on the high street where a favourite shop used to be that is likely to be at least part of the reason.

Theft and violence, as well as the rising costs are costing everyone money. We heard last week that inflation is down when you measure a basket of consumer goods, but my issue is that costs for business don’t rise at the same rate as for consumers. Most businesses having been telling us at http://www.business111.com that their real inflation is much higher. There’s your answer next time you ask yourself why everything is costing so much more.

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