What with supermarkets offering easy shopping with online orders and Deliveroo drivers whizzing around everywhere you might buy the oft-spun narrative of the decline of the local shop.
But in fact the opposite is true: the corner shop is, in fact thriving.....
NB I do my bit, although mainly this consists in purchasing Wheat Crunchies and Wispa Bites, classy!
The stats...
In 2020, Britain had 47,079 corner shops; today, just five years on, it has 50,486. That's an impressive 8% ish increase over those five years.
What's more, 71% of them are independent, not some Tesco Metro or Sainsbury's Local clone. Proper old-school independents, the sort where the owner knows who drinks which energy drink and which dodgy school kids are going to lift!
Far from being steamrolled by supermarkets, corner shops have done what big chains can't: adapt to the quirks of their tiny patches of Britain.
Through knowing their customers, corner shops are providing a more niche service that supermarkets can't match - through stocking up on ethnic treats or allowing people credit for a few days, for example.
According to the Association of Convenience Stores, corner shops remain a £45bn sector driven by hyperlocal demand, says the ACS Local Shop Report 2024. And unlike supermarkets, they aren't trying to optimise profit per square meter - they're trying to remain embedded within a community.
The New Corner Shop Class
For decades, the backbone of Britain's convenience sector was south Asian families, who fought the supermarket boom and kept the tradition alive. That legacy is still there but the picture has changed: 66% of owners are now white British or from other ethnic groups.
But a new wave of young entrepreneurs is muscling in too. To them, the local shop isn't a relic, but a viable business model. Low barriers to entry, high community visibility, and the fact that people increasingly want "something nearby" rather than "something cheap" makes it attractive.
Diversification is also helping: hot food counters, parcel drop-off points, refill stations, niche imports, craft beers, and so on. They're basically everything the high street claims it wants to be: flexible, community-centred, and surprisingly modern.
Final Thoughts
It would seem that the good old corner shop is turning into a kind of hybrid mini-market, community hub, survivalist business model, and entrepreneurial playground.
In the age of algorithmic retail and faceless supermarkets, the biggest advantage of the local shop is simple: it still feels human, and that's maybe something the supermarkets simply cannot compete with!
This post has been shared on Reddit by @davideownzall through the HivePosh initiative.
Well, I never! I wonder if there is any relationship between pubs closing down and the growth of corner shops?
Well I guess there is a marginal overlap, I can't imagine they're related though - I mean totally different markets for the most part!
not really, pubs are closing because more people are drinking from home, having a licensed corner shop is great for that odd bottle of wine, pack of beers, especially if they open round the clock.
Most of the smaller "corner shops" round here are Polski Sklepps, and the such like, catering for the non indigenous population. Fortunately I am surrounded by traditional farm shops, where they grow and kill their own animals and source local produce. A bit like Clarksons farm without Jeremy.
Oh I do like those kind of shops, good to know you're well served!
Delicious food and some decent booze! Though some good imported booze at the sklepp too
I love small shops with soul, especially those where the owner stands behind the counter.
That's awesome. I would never have guessed. I went driving round an old part of our closest city the other day and saw heaps of them - mainly based on the hipster cafe/coffee model though. Still, you can pick up a coffee, pastries, bread and a few sundries close to home.
Oh there are PLENTY of those hipster joints around here - with creatives queing around the block to pay £8 for their sourhdough sandwiches!
Very happy to read this! Corner Stores are a big thing here in Ecuador, but are disappearing little by little due to pressure from supermarkets - especially a new chain with incredibly dumpy prices. Not much one can do about it, besides keeping to shop there when possible. Meno did some good work convincing a couple of shops to accept HBD, and with Distriator, they can again compete with the dumping prices - but that is still hard work to get rolling, as I'm noticing 😅