greetings cards
“And I only came in for a card!” It’s one of the most common phrases we hear in our shop and honestly, we love hearing it. Because experienced shopkeepers know something many people outside retail don’t. Cards are very rarely just cards. The humble greeting card quietly does
Smart Shopkeeper Club
I was never good at maths. In fact, I'd go further than that. I hated it. I seemed to have an almost allergic reaction to maths lessons at school. The moment numbers appeared, my brain switched off. Nothing about them interested me whatsoever. I wanted to make things.
Smart Shopkeeper Club
I've noticed a trend on Instagram lately. Perhaps you have too. Independent retailers sharing the reality behind the scenes. The rent. The wages. The VAT. The utilities. The card machine fees. The website costs. The software subscriptions. The insurance. The music licence. The endless list of expenses that
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
I think many independent retailers are carrying around an impossible idea in their heads. The idea that somewhere out there exists a “perfect” shopkeeper. Someone who: always buys perfectly, always gets the stock levels right, always knows exactly what customers want, always feels organised, always keeps on top of everything,
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
I think curiosity may be one of the most underrated business skills an independent retailer can develop. Not relentless positivity. Not forced confidence. Not pretending everything is fine when it clearly is not. Just curiosity. Because curiosity creates movement. Shame usually does the opposite. Shame narrows people. Makes them defensive.
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
I think many shopkeepers carry around far more shame than anybody realises. Not just about money or figures, but about the feeling that they should somehow already know how to do everything perfectly. How to buy perfectly. Merchandise perfectly. Market perfectly. Manage staff perfectly. Control stock perfectly. Forecast perfectly. Grow
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
There is a strange tendency in business to assume that if something sounds complicated, it must also be intelligent. The more jargon involved. The more layers in the system. The more cells in the spreadsheet. The more “advanced” it appears. And yet, after decades in independent retail, I have increasingly
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
A Different Kind of Retail Strategy There is no shortage of advice for independent retailers. Everywhere you look, there are systems, formulas, growth plans, productivity hacks and people promising certainty in an industry that often feels anything but certain. And while some of that advice can absolutely be useful, I
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
Real expertise doesn’t come from a corporate boardroom. It comes from behind the counter. It comes from stacking shelves with one hand and serving a customer with the other. It comes from struggling with the summer rota while your kids are off school and staying up till midnight updating
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
“No rushing, no pushing.” It’s something I say regularly in yoga classes. A gentle reminder to stop forcing. To stop straining. To stop trying to wrestle life into submission. And lately I’ve realised it applies just as much to running a small business as it does to yoga.
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
People love a business origin story. How did they start? What was the lightbulb moment? How did they go from nothing to success? We’re taught to believe the secret lies in the beginning. That somewhere inside the founder’s early decisions is a blueprint we can follow ourselves. But
Smart Shopkeeper Strategy
One thing my team will tell you very quickly is this: I rarely leave anything alone for long. A display gets adjusted slightly. A sign moves half an inch. A product gets regrouped. A caption changes. A window gets simplified. A price point shifts. A shelf suddenly makes more sense