Where Are All The Local Shops?
Having been out of London for quite a while, it was a bit of a shock to return to some of my favourite haunts and discover shopping malls rather than labyrinthine markets, supermarkets rather than corner shops, and Starbucks rather than Gino's café.
However, small shops are fighting back. And a reward card for local shops, called Wedge, is their aid. A Wedge Card costs £10 and entitles you to discounts, free stuff and events courtesy of the local shops and organizations that are it's members.
“Wedge card is a new way to get discounts and special offers from local and independent businesses. From bookshops to butchers, cafes to carnivals - buy your favourite things and help re-energize your local community," says John Bird, co-founder of the Wedge card.
The Big Issue
John Bird wants to create a revolution on our high street… again. Fifteen years ago he changed the face of the streets of London for good when he started The Big Issue. Sold on the streets by homeless vendors, it's a fantastic magazine which often touches on ethical issues as well as being a great cultural commentator. It is now sold in Australia, Japan and South Africa as well as regional issues around the UK.
"The Big Issue is about bringing homeless people to the marketplace so that they can earn their own money. The marketplace helps the homeless become, like the rest of us, the individuals that we want to be. The Wedge card also sees the marketplace as a place to sort out social justice issues. That the defence of small and independent shops is a guarantee to ensure that communities continue."
The Wedge Card
The Wedge Card gives us access to great local shops we might not necessarily have discovered. Obviously if we shop local we will know the face of our butcher and chat with the florist, but with faceless chains taking over the high street it is becoming increasingly difficult to find and support local independent shops.
"I'm totally opposed to the 'supermarketisation' of the land," says John, never one to mince his words."Our local shops are disappearing in front of us, the high streets have turned into monstrous clones, and it's destroying our communities."
"Wedge is going to help those shops that make the community tick by encouraging the public to buy in the local market place. Because it's in the family owned cafes, butchers and bookshops that people get to know one another, and become part of their community. If you don't have a community then you're more likely to be lonely, and you're more likely to be lost. The supermarkets don't make up for that kind of alienation."
Even the Wedge card itself is a family business, started by John and his daughter Diana. Diana has been dubbed 'Queen of the Local Shops Movement' by Ecologist magazine.
So it's not just about finding great bargains and unique accessories, the Wedge card is about creating communities.
Changes
Some of the great bastions of London's shopping scene have fallen prey to high street big business in recent years. For example both Camden and Spitalfields markets have been reworked. Market stalls are now surrounded by glass, steel and high street shops. Apparently the old Stables market in Camden which used to be great for rooting around and finding vintage clothes, will soon be a Tesco supermarket.
Spitalfields too which had a great and thriving art market and organic vegetable stalls was on prime retail land and the stalls are now jammed in between shops and chain restaurants; but we can vote against the growing anonymity of the high street with our wallets and our Wedge cards.
We Can Choose
The Wedge card invites you to discover new areas of London - beyond Brick Lane there is the hub of Cheshire Street, or escape Covent Garden and head to Lamb's Conduit Street which is about a ten minute walkaway… Find local farmers selling their organic wares at Borough market… or check out the local shops and cafes on my new favourite London shopping street Exmouth Market…
Anita Roddick, Body Shop founder and ethical protestor, said that we could fight big business with our wallets. We still have choice.
As well as unique clothes, accessories, hairdressers and cafes as part of the Wedge scheme, around London there are a couple of gyms where you can flex your yogic muscles, maybe you want to get a website designed, get into the Design museum, find a lifecoach or simply have organic veggies delivered to your door…
And you might get a good story behind the products you buy… BindiBazar on the Wedge scheme sells fair trade handbags made from recycled plastic carrier bags collected by women on the streets of Delhi. Or learn how to cook Moroccan food or host a stress-free dinner party with the help of Foodat52 cookery school.
If you buy your Wedge card online, £5 goes to a chosen local charity which at the moment is Hackney City Farm… which as well as offering a farm experience to city kids around London, who I kid you not may well not have ever seen a chicken, also offers father and child gardening sessions and low impact living courses.
So make a stand and make London a smaller place through community.
Check out the Wedge at http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/ And note Wedge is already on its way to Oslo, Norway.
And another interesting website aside - http://www.classiccafes.co.uk/RIP.html