Thank you, Vikki for these you sent in:

Here are a couple of lovely shops I have found. Both sell home furnishings
including cushions, quilts and pictures, cards and lovely smelling things.

Roost
111 High Street
Eton
Berkshire
SL4 6AN

01753840200
www.roostinteriors.co.uk

Eben Lark
46 Bath Street
ABINGDON
Oxfordshire
OX14 3QH

I don't know of a telephone number and she doesn't have a website but the
shop is just gorgeous (and very very tiny) and from what I can tell she either
makes or restores most of the items herself. She happily takes on
commissions and at very reasonable prices too.

Vikki
(from Reading, Berkshire)

thank you Vikki for updating us

Unfortunately Eben Lark closed down at the end of last year, but they now have a website:www.eben-lark.co.uk The shop should be up and running online soon. It's so sad that these shops keep disappearing, I get so bored of looking in the same shops in every town.
Unfortunately this is a growing trend.

Community building
This seems quite obvious, markets have always been places where people could network, this doesn’t happen in large chains as there are few areas to relax and many people are not local in any case with many people driving great distances to get a bargain.

Meet the experts
When someone runs a shop with their product, lets say a butcher, they know their subject, how many times have you been to a supermarket and had good advise from someone who has worked and trained in butchery. Supermarkets are not specialised they specialise in retail, maximising profit, not always for our good.

Better for suppliers
Because small shops specialise they can have better and closer relationships with their suppliers, they understand one another. Chains have a take it or leave it approach, usually meaning insisting on the lowest prices possible to the detriment often of quality with farmers/manufacturers cutting corners. We can see this with the poor quality of manufacture coming out of China.

Environment
We are increasingly hearing the case for the environment, firstly people should think about what they need rather than buying on impulse or whims, then they should try and source it from a local supplier, in order to try and keep the money in the local economy and of course if this is not possible, I would then go to John Lewis! or another store with ethical/environmental policies. What we all do has an effect, check the label, where food is concerned where possible buy local produce, in my local Tesco there was not a single apple from Europe let alone the UK, they were all from South Africa, New Zealand and Chile. All of them! This can only be greed. What does this sort of mindless commerce mean for the future of food production and the environment when artificially ripened, mediocre apples are being shipped thousands miles to the heartland of apple growing, probably in the world! It's symptomatic of our times.

"Supermarkets were put there to alienate and disenfranchise communities" -Little Britain.

Ecologist guide to not shopping in supermarkets

Quality of life
Lastly but very importantly I would like to say this is an often missed part of this discussion, ‘quality of life’. One of the most enjoyable parts of life should be enjoying your neighbourhood, newspaper from Mr Patel, coffee on Franks café and buying some meat from Wells the butcher. But, when these things are reduced to WHSmith, Starbucks and Tesco, I think you know what I’m saying how this reduces the richness of our lives. What will our streets be like when the chains squeeze out all the small operators, will we forever be walking across car parks with plastic bags blowing in the wind to get a coffee, newspaper or flowers, where’s the community in that? Things have slipped far enough……we are all responsible these are our streets, time to rest control.

Finally
On a global note, this text is my experience in London but I’m sure applies increasingly anywhere around the globe, especially as world trade and globalisation increase. The danger is if we let this situation persist what will happen when all agriculture and manufacturing is done in far way countries, especially when they all these businesses are owned their to, prices of goods will also be out of our hands, then we will know what power, or the lack of it is.

Local to Global. It’s a two way street.
Be Independent.

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