The high street was already going through a tough time before Covid-19 came along. Now, we're heading into a second lockdown and non-essential shops, bars, restaurants and others have to close, limiting their ability to reach their customers. It's therefore a really important time to support your local independent shops.
Last Christmas, I wrote about how cost is often an important factor in people spending their money with international online corporations but cost can be measured in ways other than simply our immediate finances. This year, Amazon's profits have increased by 37% and its owner, Jeff Bezos, is now worth over $200bn. Where possible, I'd prefer my money to be helping local businesses get through this tough time so they can employ local people and pay their business rates so councils can continue to invest in the local area.
With this in mind, I've decided to make a list of independent businesses from Hull, Beverley and the surrounding area that also trade online so we can help support them through lockdown. Obviously, there's never going to be an exhaustive list and I've started with a few of my favourites but if you know of any others, leave a comment or tweet me (@earlofbeverley) and I'll keep on adding to this list. I've not included businesses supplying takeaway food as I think existing apps and services can do that better than I can.