The fascinating shopping area around Christmas Steps in Bristol dates back to the 1600s and is now the location of unique shops, art galleries, pottery, dressmakers, shoe shops, musical instruments, furniture and much more.
But to what extent has the ongoing economic situation and cost of living impacted traders at Christmas Steps and nearby Colston Street?
We had the opportunity to talk with five traders to see how the Christmas season had treated their business and the impacts of the living crisis on their business. Here's what we found:
1. Ahh Toots
At Ahh Toots bakery and cafe, Amy Simons, said: “I feel like, shop-wise because it’s a smaller treat it’s kind of maybe benefited us a little bit because people can't afford to go out for a meal or spend money on the more expensive sides of the treats. Coming to get a £5 slice of cake and a coffee is a small treat that you can kind of justify it.” As for Christmas, Amy said the festive season wasn’t as busy as it normally is. “It's normally our busiest time. We take a lot of Christmas cake orders, which kind of suffered a bit this year, I think. I think being near Christmas Steps, it makes people come down to this area at that time of year. But the celebration cakes definitely suffered. I feel like a lot of people see us as an expensive treat, and if you’re going to buy a Yule log for a kind of premium price here and you can get one at Marks and Spencer, I feel there were a lot of people making that decision to save a bit of money so that’s where we suffered on that one I think.”
2. Les Fleurs
At florists Les Fleurs, Holly said: “Flowers are a luxury item so people will spend less money on that kind of thing. Throughout the whole year I think people spend less money on luxury items like flowers and stuff for home. So we rely on people buying us gifts for other people. As for Christmas, it was good - it was good the whole month of December for us, not just the week before when we have workshops and events. There was a lot of road work and stuff going out the front to begin with for the whole of December so we feel like that impacted us a bit in terms of footfall, but generally, I think it was very good.”
3. Blaze
At Blaze, one of the workers said that Christmas trade had been ‘good’. “We were actually experiencing just before Christmas what it felt like before the pandemic, which was quite nice. It was really busy and bustling. People are buying, because obviously we’re an independently run business, we’re a co-op, so all the artists in here are self-employed. So we found that people are choosing to spend their money with us, which is nice, but it just might mean that sometimes they’re not buying as much as what they would like to because of the cost of living.”
4. Lowlands
Lowlands is a small shop selling old and new lights, furniture, home ware, and other items inspired by northern European design. Owner Erica Dubuisson said: “I think people don’t spend so much perhaps on themselves as they used to. People don’t seem to come and buy a little mug in the same way that they used to, but people still need to put new lighting and things in their homes, so they come for those. And I think because we have a lot of vintage stuff, people like the idea that it’s being reused and it’s not creating waste. We’re benefiting from people thinking very carefully about the choices that they make I would say. Christmas was surprisingly good really. We weren’t really expecting it to be so. There were loads of roadworks on the street and it turned out to be better than we thought. So it has been good.”