At Harvest, Georgie said that Christmas had “been really good and very busy.” As for the impacts of the cost of living crisis, she said: “It’s quite hard to tell really. I don't know if it's impacted massively. I think it takes a while to see in the long run. Our footfall has been greater, so there's been more variety of customers, more customers, but maybe they're spending a bit less.” Her colleague Alex added: “I think we've both worked here for maybe ten years now and I would say that the Christmas just gone is one of the best Christmases we’ve had. Last summer we were lucky enough to be able to invest a bit of money into the place to try and encourage customers to come in. A lot of the customers want to buy the ingredients to make something themselves which is why we’ve got quite a lot of bulk stuff, which keeps the cost down as much as possible for the customer. Average spending is down, but footfall is up.” At Harvest, Georgie said that Christmas had “been really good and very busy.” As for the impacts of the cost of living crisis, she said: “It’s quite hard to tell really. I don't know if it's impacted massively. I think it takes a while to see in the long run. Our footfall has been greater, so there's been more variety of customers, more customers, but maybe they're spending a bit less.” Her colleague Alex added: “I think we've both worked here for maybe ten years now and I would say that the Christmas just gone is one of the best Christmases we’ve had. Last summer we were lucky enough to be able to invest a bit of money into the place to try and encourage customers to come in. A lot of the customers want to buy the ingredients to make something themselves which is why we’ve got quite a lot of bulk stuff, which keeps the cost down as much as possible for the customer. Average spending is down, but footfall is up.”
At Harvest, Georgie said that Christmas had “been really good and very busy.” As for the impacts of the cost of living crisis, she said: “It’s quite hard to tell really. I don't know if it's impacted massively. I think it takes a while to see in the long run. Our footfall has been greater, so there's been more variety of customers, more customers, but maybe they're spending a bit less.” Her colleague Alex added: “I think we've both worked here for maybe ten years now and I would say that the Christmas just gone is one of the best Christmases we’ve had. Last summer we were lucky enough to be able to invest a bit of money into the place to try and encourage customers to come in. A lot of the customers want to buy the ingredients to make something themselves which is why we’ve got quite a lot of bulk stuff, which keeps the cost down as much as possible for the customer. Average spending is down, but footfall is up.”

We visit the Bristol street with the most independent shops in Europe to see how business is

By Adriana Amor
Published 18th Jan 2024, 16:17 BST
Updated 18th Jan 2024, 16:27 BST

We to talk with nine traders to see how the Christmas season treated their business and the impacts of the cost of living crisis

Located in North Bristol and running through St Andrews, Bishopston and Horfield, Gloucester Road has been described as having the longest row of independent shops in Europe.

But to what extent has the ongoing economic situation and cost of living impacted traders at Gloucester Road?

We had the opportunity to talk with nine traders to see how the Christmas season had treated their business and the impacts of the cost of living crisis and high energy bills on their business.

Here’s what we found:

We had the opportunity to talk with nine traders to see how the Christmas season had treated their business and the impacts of the cost of living crisis and high energy bills on their business.

At Future Leap, Sylvie, the assistant manager, said: “It's been really busy for the shop and for the pop-ups because we ran Christmas markets every weekend in December and then the full two weeks leading up to Christmas. So we’ve had a lot more footfall. And then the pop-up shops did really well, especially the clothes shop, and then the old bookshop that used to be there. Christmas was busy, but I guess the shop’s been a bit quieter, and then the more expensive things haven’t sold so well. The smaller bits, like the reusable things and socks, have done better.”

9. Future Leap

At Future Leap, Sylvie, the assistant manager, said: “It's been really busy for the shop and for the pop-ups because we ran Christmas markets every weekend in December and then the full two weeks leading up to Christmas. So we’ve had a lot more footfall. And then the pop-up shops did really well, especially the clothes shop, and then the old bookshop that used to be there. Christmas was busy, but I guess the shop’s been a bit quieter, and then the more expensive things haven’t sold so well. The smaller bits, like the reusable things and socks, have done better.”

Previous
3 / 3
Next Page
Related topics:BristolTradersCost of living

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.