UK: ACS asks government to support rural c-stores
The association wants more support for rural convenience stores as part of the levelling up agenda.
The British Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has called on the Government to provide more support for rural convenience stores as part of the levelling up agenda, highlighting the vital role that these businesses play to the economy and to their local communities.
Launched today, ACS’ 2022 Rural Shop Report has revealed that half of rural stores operate with no other retail or service businesses close by, acting as a lifeline for their customers by providing access to vital services including free to use cash machines (48%), local grocery delivery (26%) and Post Offices (22%). This year’s report also shows that if their local shop was no longer there, customers would have to travel an average of 3.3 miles in order to access these services and to feed their families.
Findings from the report show that over the last year, rural convenience stores have achieved around £15.8 billion ($21bn) in sales and the average rural customer visits stores around 2.5 times per week.
“Rural shops are a lifeline to thousands of communities and have gone above and beyond to ensure that they can keep providing essentials throughout all of the disruption caused by supply chain issues and the ongoing pandemic,” said ACS chief executive James Lowman.
“Providing targeted support to rural shops and other rural businesses must be integral to the Government’s levelling up agenda to ensure that the gap between rural stores and their urban counterparts doesn’t widen even further,” added Lowman.
The ACS represents over 33,500 convenience stores in the United Kingdom.
