In the past few years, a poor economic climate and ongoing debate over business rates have spelled a certain element of doom and gloom over the shop keepers of the UK. However, those feeling a little down on their luck can take comfort from the fact that, according to the majority of Britons, they are currently “living the dream”, at least in the career sense.
Yes, running a shop has now officially been named as the “dream career” for a high number of us living in the UK. According to a new study conducted by American Express, a majority 10 per cent of respondents stated that becoming a proprietor of their own independent store was something of a career aspiration when presented with a list of 22 different work options including becoming an actor, a doctor or a scientist among others.
Upon delving a little further, American Express found that, of those who nursed a desire to open up their own shop, a book shop or tea shop were the most popular options. However, many also expressed a wish to become an independent pub landlord, indicating that the future may indeed be brightening up for the country’s ailing pub sector.
One person who has followed her dream to open up an independent shop is Caroline Andrews, owner of gift shop Pink & Brown in Sunninghill, Berkshire. She says; “It’s been hugely stressful but I always wanted to be in charge of something.
“You can never really tell what’s going to happen one year to the next but we have peaks we work towards – Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, for example. “The recession has affected us in the last few years, fewer people were buying gifts for themselves, but this year I’ve noticed this has begun to turn around and people are spending more on themselves again.”
Ms Andrews’ testimony may indeed prove encouraging for aspiring shopkeepers, especially as one in 20 of the 2,200 adults questioned by American Express revealed that they are currently making plans to open their own shop within the next few years. The past four and a half years have seen 16,000 new shops open annually in a sample of 500 towns monitored by the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA), with the organisation predicting that 30,000 independent shops will open per year across the UK in future.
BIRA spokesperson Michael Weedon says; “Running a shop is a dream for many – it has a relatively low entry price to the market and makes a great second career. “It’s interesting that bookshops are high on the list, as they are in one of the areas most open to competition from online and offline sales.
“The biggest growth group in the first half of this year has come from tobacconists: why? They are classified as tobacconists but they are really e-cigarette shops, so things are often not as they seem.”
Do you nurse a secret desire to open a shop and, if so, will you be taking the plunge and launching a business in 2015?
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