Founder of The Entertainer, Gary Grant, has been talking to Radio 4’s Today programme about the latest challenges for retailers following the emergence of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus.
In the interview last week, Gary backed the Government’s caution over the Omicron variant, saying more of his staff were positive at present than over the last 20 months, but he also called on the Government to rethink their position on business rates.
He said: “The Government have done amazing things, they’ve supported our business tremendously through lockdown, with the furlough scheme, with rates, with time to pay on some of the business taxes. We’d like them to look again at some of those things, because cash flow is critical.
“It’s all very well for the Government to say businesses will have this rates holiday, but a business of our size ended up with caps, so that really wasn’t the headline number that was predicted. So support with rates going into next year would be really helpful whilst the Government decides on that, if they don’t resolve the rates problem, many more businesses in the high street will close. The rates system is broken and the can is being kicked down the road once again.”
Gary went on to express his gratitude to staff as they adapt to the rapidly changing challenges of retail and keep the stores open for Christmas shoppers. However those shopper numbers have dropped since the increase in cases.
He explained: “We have experienced probably a 20% fall in footfall over the last few weeks as people have become more cautious. Those that are coming shopping are actually spending more money and I think it’s probably because they think if they leave things late and try and buy them on the internet, maybe those toys, those most important toys from Father Christmas won’t be there on time.
“We’re doing absolutely everything we possibly can to deliver Christmas. This is the second highly disrupted Christmas that we’ve had, but at least we’re not in lockdown for it, we’re open and we’re trading and people are in generally good spirits.”
Urging consumers to support high street retailers, Gary concluded: “I’ll say to your listeners – if you value your high street, use it, because you will lose it. The shops are ready to serve you, we are finding every way to do that in a really safe way. There’s plenty of products in store even though we’ve had challenges on logistics, we’re ready to serve you this Christmas.”
