Black Friday: Are big chains suffocating small businesses?

Shops across Glasgow and the West should be experiencing one of their busiest days of the year today, but most of the area is locked down and doors are closed.

Instead, High Streets are empty and Black Friday has moved online, with many big chains offering huge discounts on goods. Some deals have been running since the start of November and will go on until Christmas.

Clyde 1 is hearing how it is making it difficult for already struggling small businesses to compete and they are being encouraged to innovate in order to keep up.

Rachel Black runs Jasmine Boutique in Hyndland and said: "You always are frustrated because it's such an important time of years and small buisnesses spend a lot of time sourcing high quality goods with a bit of uniqueness and the last thing you really want to do at peak gift buying season is start slashing prices on them.

"I think the message from small businesses out there just now and it's quite a blunt message but it's 'use us or lose us' basically.

"Lockdown has been pretty devastating and what we've had to do it just try and adapt and drum up business any way we can so we've started delivering locally, I'm doing more on social media now to generate sales.

"What the small independents can do is provide services for you. For example, I offer a personal shopping service and at the moment I'm doing that via FaceTime just now to help people out while we're closed and they're looking for gifts. "

Hisashi Kuboyama from the Federation of Small Businesses said: "I think it's fair to say the situation is frustrating and extremely disappointing for many, many small businesses who were looking forward to their busiest time of the year and perhaps the opportunity to recoup some of the loses they made in the first lockdown.

"Obviously it's very difficult for all the independent shops but actually many are offering deals, adapting, offering click and collect, free local deliver so they can still make the most of the opportunity and we've seen many small business doing the best they can."

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