The cost of convenience & affordability

Figures suggest that approximately £1 in every £3 spent in the United Kingdom is spent in supermarkets. It seems we cannot resist these giant centres of convenience and affordability.

Across an entire nation's identically cloned supermarkets, we can now buy all we need at prices we used to dream about; prices driven down by giant retailers whose economies of scale allow for feeble margins and thus the plundering of the world’s poorest countries for mass-produced soul-less products that we seem to lap up without thought.

Their incessant growth across our tiny island has crushed the local butcher, family greengrocer, florist, newsagent, independent store and skilled artisan producers in our towns and villages.One store now takes care of it all! No need to shop around. No need to make an extra journey. No need to think!

The butcher, the greengrocer and the florist and their families have lost their businesses; the local farmers have lost their supply chain; artisan craftsmen no longer have stores to which to sell their unique products. All in the name of consumer convenience and affordability.

Are we happy to allow this to happen? Are we a nation of people who can't cope unless we have the convenience and affordability supermarkets so “thoughtfully and painstakingly” provide?

What about choice? Variety? Sense of community? Quality? Tradition? Trust? Regional individuality? The sharing of wealth? Patriotism? Heritage? Do we no longer care about this?

By ignoring the unchecked wave of “modern retailing,” we are acquiescing to the slow and painful destruction of the local identity of Britain's towns and villages and the dissolution of the social glue that holds these communities together.

If we are to stand back and allow the retail giants to sweep all before them, in ten years all we will have left is supermarkets. All we will have left is "convenience" and "affordability." It will be too late to look back on the good old days and bemoan the loss of the local farmer, butcher, grocer and artisan. TOO LATE!

Today, let us not put ourselves in a position of inevitable regret.

Think about what you are buying. Buy British. Buy local.

It's the thought that counts!

OK, so we're a giftware company and we talk gifts all day.

But there's a saying related to our industry that made us think: "It's the thought that counts."

A phrase used to express pretend satisfaction about a less than perfect gift you've received. It's a way of being polite. It's a typically English way of saying "why on earth did you buy me that?" It's usually the precursor to putting the said "thoughtful" gift in the bin the moment the gift-giver has gone home.

But it started us thinking - in the 21st century, with our overwhelming desire to shop only in cloned supermarkets and out-of-town shopping centres - just how much thought really does go into giving gifts any more?

More importantly, what are the gifts you give saying about how you view the recipient?

What exactly are you saying to your Mum when you buy her flowers for Mother's Day simply because it was convenient for you to pick them up in the supermarket at the same time you were buying dog food?

What does it say when you give a wedding gift straight off a big store bridal registry?

Can you really commemorate your relative's Birthday with a gift everybody else buys for their relative's Birthday?

What if you had gone to your local florist for your Mum and had a bouquet made up especially for her? Wouldn't that tell her more?

What if you'd shopped around for a unique, personal wedding gift that the bride & groom could treasure? A gift that none of their married friends already had?

What if your relative's birthday had been properly commemorated with a gift as unique as them?

The next time you're tempted to pick up a soul-less, production-line created one-of-3-million gift for someone in the supermarket or mall, remember what a gift symbolises. It's expressing your own unique regard of/love for/thanks to someone.

Buy something unique. Express yourself properly! Be different!

So, if you want to avoid being thanked with "it's the thought that counts," just make sure the thought actually does count when you buy a gift!

www.uniquebritishgifts.com
Unique giftware made the traditional way by selected British artisans and delivered worldwide