Jayne Dowle: Time for the high street to evolve or die as it faces realities of modern life

You might think it a bit rich for the boss of the nation’s third-largest supermarket to issue pronouncements on the future of independent retailing, seeing as many would blame him for contributing to the problems in the first place. But you have to accept that what he says makes sense.

Take a long hard look at any high street. You might not like what you see. In fact, I can almost guarantee that you won’t like what you see. Rows of To Let signs. Boarded up shop-fronts.

Metal shutters that haven’t been lifted since 2002. Something isn’t right.

This isn’t a pleasant shopping experience, it can be an excursion to Ghost Town. But for a long time, those in charge of promoting high streets, and those who support local shopping – like me – have tried to convince ourselves that if only the magic formula could be found, everything could be bustling again.

We might not like what Mr King says either. But I think we have to admit that he has got a point. We are at a crux point in the history of retailing. I think in years to come, we will look back at the early years of the 21st century and recognise that this was when we experienced a shift as fundamental as the arrival of the chartered markets in the Middle Ages. As he said: “Many shoppers do not have the time to potter between the butcher, the baker and the grocer.”

Rail against the monopoly of the big supermarkets as much as you like, but you have to admit that he is right. It would be nice to sally forth every morning with a wicker basket on my arm, but it is not going to happen. Not in this lifetime.

Multiply me by several million customers, and there you have it. You can’t blame the supermarkets. You can’t blame the shoppers. It’s just the hectic, time-pressurised way that modern life is.

Come on, look at the facts. One in every seven shop units in the UK’s high streets is now standing empty, according to a recent retail report by the Local Data Company. The sheer number of retailers which have disappeared in the past few years, including big names such as Habitat and Peacocks, can only point to one conclusion; fewer shops, less choice, decline.

So really, we don’t need facts and figures to tell us what we can see with our own eyes; that the high street as we understand it is no longer sustainable.

But what to do? Mr King’s big idea is simply to make the whole thing smaller; turn those empty shops into homes and schools. This kind of large-scale change would need proper government back-up, of course, and plenty of private money willing to invest.

It would also, conceivably, work better in some parts of the country than others. In areas where deprivation went beyond the high street, and where there simply wasn’t the will or the cash to invest in change, this approach would not provide a magic solution. But assuming that we accept that our high streets must shrink, then what? What happens to the shops left behind?

The thought of neighbourhood after neighbourhood, town after town, with no central meeting point of shops and cafes and places to pop in and out of is too grim to contemplate.

Well, I can only speak from a customer’s point of view. So I will just say one word; service. If you want customers, you have to act as if you want them. And, as any savvy retailer knows, it is service which makes the best ones stand out from the To Let signs, and the supermarkets, and the big out-of-town stores, and keeps them in business.

It should go without saying that this means that the customer must always come first. But I am sorry to say that too many retailers, and shop assistants, appear to have forgotten that particular fundamental.

I have worked in shops, so I do know what I am talking about, and a smile and a helpful attitude doesn’t cost a penny, or require much investment. But it is amazing how, even in a recession, with shops closing all around, how rare these can be.

Of course, a smile alone isn’t going to keep a shop in business. And this is where the high street has to think beyond its geographical confines, however limited they might end up. It has to get into the hearts and minds of not only its existing customers, but its potential customers.

Mr King suggests developing local loyalty card schemes. I’d say free or subsidised parking is a must, and a decent website which you can order stuff off at midnight and pick up later would be lovely.

He also says that supermarkets thrive because they reflect the way that society changes. I’d say it’s definitely time for the high street to evolve too.