In my 17 years of my life so far, I have already began to pick out society’s flaws by looking at what we appreciate and what we do not. Small Business Saturday, which I heard about on the radio, to me is an event that could demonstrate the difficulties that small businesses face and is about something we should appreciate.
When I was only 10 or 11, my grandmother took me down to a street in Wolverhampton where I saw a slice of society untouched by modern advancement. There unlike the town which I grew up in, was a row of shops, just like the ones I had seen in Victoria streets of the like. A butchers, a greengrocers and bakers. All independent, ‘& son’ and all. My wonderland did not end, as, when we stepped inside, we were greeted as if we were lifelong friends, my grandmother chatted to the butcher about business, and he replied with great pride about his produce.
I had never felt more connected to the produce I was buying. This came back into my mind when the supermarket horsemeat scandal occurred. If that had happened to a small business, it would almost immediately fall out with its customers. Yet why did the large supermarkets survive? They survive because people have nothing else to rely on. Not every place has a butchers, and why would it? They have a supermarket, where they can easily shop everything in one go, no questions, no social interaction. This is also something that I believe makes small businesses better for society. There is more opportunity for a proper chat in a small shop than at the supermarket till.
In a small business there is more likely to be a story behind the goods. If I have the means to do so, I would much rather buy a handmade bag outsourced from India than a mass-produced one. Why? Because when your friend asks you where your bag is from, you can tell them the story and that advertises the business. My future aspirations and many of my peers’ ideas for the future include to start up my own business. However, with all the large companies, supermarkets and worldwide competition, will we be able to? I sometimes doubt it.
These are our aspirations and we want a political party that gets it, understands us and sees the world as we do. We want a government that will help us and empower us and recognise the value of all small business, not just the big ones and that is why I like Small Business Saturday.
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