The shops remain the same - or do they?

New research suggests that many of us are living in "clone towns" where independent stores are drowned by national chains. But, asks Ben Bentley, is Shropshire bucking the trend?

Where am I? The high street has a Boots, Iceland, WH Smith, a Coral and a Betfred, Specsavers and Ethel Austin. With almost every other shop now a major chain brand, the blinkered might be fooled into thinking that modern Market Drayton could be any town, anywhere.

A new report has labelled an increasing number of British towns 'clone towns', lacking diversity and individual personality and offering customers very little in the way of a unique shopping experience.

The EFM which conducted the study devised a formula for testing whether your high street is a clone town full of the same old big name chain stores, or a home town, one that has not fallen victim to national chains and which boasts a diverse range of independently run outlets.

The question is - do we live in county full of clone towns? Does the high street of your home town look the same as any other in the UK?

A simple test can reveal the answer: walk down the main shopping street and count the number and types of shops that are owned by a chain or by an independent retailer.

Feed this figure into a 'scientific' formula created specifically to calculate the blandness of your town and hey presto - learn whether you live in a clone town, a 'border town' (one which is perilously close to becoming a clone town) or a 'home town', which is one that offers a diverse range of individual and characterful stores.

Here's how four Shropshire market towns measure up:

Shifnal

• Number of independently owned shops (from a sample of 50) - 43

• Number of chain stores - 7

• Number of types of shops (from a total of 26) - 19

• Diversity score (from a maximum of 100) - 83.5

• Clone town or home town? Home town

Chain stores around Shifnal are conspicuous by their absence. A sample of 50 shops reveals that 43 are independently owned, many with the names of their local owners above the door, and just seven run by recognisable chains.

The formula gives Shifnal a diversity score of 83.5 out of a possible 100, putting the town among the top 20 per cent in the UK for individuality through its stores, and firmly positioning it as a home town.

Paul Henley, who runs Barkers independent newsagent, says: "It's very important for a town to have independent stores. We have had applications to us to become a Premier store or a Mace and to change the shop front and be told what we have got to stock in the shop.

"You get all sorts of reps coming in telling you what their best selling products, but as an independent I am able to tell them that it does not sell here and that we might be discontinuing the line.

"Being independent means we are flexible to give what our customers need."

He continues: "If you had a town where all the shops are the same you doing feel like going round, it could be anywhere, and then you can understand why people turn to Asda and Tesco."

He says traders in Shifnal support one another and that having independent shops helps the local economy, even though they might at times be more expensive than chain stores. Money spent in a supermarket chain, on the other hand, goes back to head office, possibly hundreds of miles away from town.

Church Stretton

• Number of independently owned shops (from a sample of 50) - 44

• Number of chain stores - 6

• Number of types of shops (from a total of 26) - 19

• Diversity score - 85

• Clone town or home town? Home town

A visitor to the main shopping streets in Church Stretton - High Street and Sandford Avenue - can have no quibble with the number of chain stores. Because, dominated by charming independents shops, cafes and boutiques, there are only half a handful of them and to be fair they compliment the diversity offered by the smaller stores.

Men's outfitters, ladies' boutiques, and home-made food outlets are the order of the day, leaving its large number of tourist visitors in no doubt that this town is not like any other.

Chocolateur Lavinia Ratcliffe of Chocolate Haven says: "I don't go to big towns because when you go you realise they are all the same and I don't see the point.

"I think visitors like to see individuality."

Jane Van Doesburg, chair of Church Stretton chamber of trade and owner of Van Doesburg's gourmet deli on High Street, says: "It's extremely important to have independently owned shops, especially in this day and age when there are so many multiples that sell everything.

"We have to offer something extra, but if a town can retain their individual shops it gives people an added reason to come.

"People come from miles away for a suit from Pepper's and they might then go and have lunch somewhere in the town or visit some of our other shops while they are here.

"But we cannot be complacent. We work hard to compliment each other and if I have not got something someone wants then I try to point them to another shop in Church Stretton."

Wem

• Number of independently owned shops (from a sample of 50) - 47

• Number of chain stores - 3

• Number of types of shops (from a total of 26) - 17

• Diversity score (from a maximum of 100) - 87.5

• Clone town or home town? Home town

Wem is held up in the Clone Town Britain study as a shining example of a 'home town', having a diverse range of independently run shops along the high street - a feature that gives the town its individual personality and character.

Indeed in this Shropshire Star sample study it comes out top - a home town with a score of 87.5

Butcher Antony Oliver is a Wem lad born and bred and who took over the shop 16 months ago from Doug Forrester who ran it for 40 years previously.

He says: "I hope being an independent trader helps the local economy and the town always has had a lot of individual shops."

However he concedes: "Wem is not the town it used to be years ago. There used to be two butchers, now there is one. It was thriving, but we seem to be ticking along okay."

Market Drayton

• Number of independently owned shops (from a sample of 50) - 26

• Number of chain stores - 24

• Number of types of shops (from a total of 26) - 13

• Diversity score (from a maximum of 100) - 52

• Clone town or home town? Border town

A sample of shops taken from Market Drayton's two main shopping streets - High Street and Cheshire Street - is more of a close run affair.

An independent is next door to a Boots; a family run pet shop is surrounded by a SpecSavers and an Iceland; another independent is followed by a Betfred.

A slightly different sample might have revealed different results, but Market Drayton's score is surprising: from 50 shops, 26 are independent and 24 are chain stores.

Also there is a marked drop in the number of types of shops here. From a possible 26 there are just 13.

This gives the Market Drayton a diversity score of 52, escaping the label of clone town by just two diversity points and making it a 'border town'. Just one more chain store and one fewer type of shops in the sample would have made it a clone town, according to the clone town formula.

However, the number of charity shops run by national organisations does arguably skew the figure, but such shops do, according to the think tank which conducted the research, still count towards the formula's outcome.

Interestingly, in just two Market Drayton streets there are 11 vacant shops, including what was Woolworths. Jason Williams, who runs The Shropshire Cobbler, says: "I think there's a good mixture of shops here, and we could do with a few more of the bigger stores, especially for things like clothes.

"But you need independents, people like it. Years ago there was a separate butcher, baker and hardware store, for example, but now you can just go to the supermarket."

Shoppers John and and Sandra Hollingsworth add: "From a financial point of view we are better off having stores like Wilkinsons. It has been a godsend."

But high rates mean that often independent retailers can't afford to pay them, paving the way for chains.

Sandra Hollingsworth adds: "If a new small shop opens, the rates are expensive and that cost has to be passed on to shoppers and people are not going to come. I can think of three independent shops that have gone because they could not afford to stay. They were lovely shops but they were very expensive."

However Sandra says she likes to support independent shops wherever possible and holds in her hand a pair of sports shoes - bought at a bargain price, she says proudly, from an independent retailer.

CONCLUSION

What are the effects of being a clone town, or of being dominated by too many chain stores?

Apart from being detrimental to the local economy and having a sense of place in a town, other fear factors include the danger of high street confidence collapsing should major retailers pull out of town during tough economic times such as we are experiencing now.

Perhaps living in a clone town has the effect of turning inhabitants into clones human beings who wear similar clothes and buy similar goods to everyone else?

Certainly the removal of choice would seem to have some bearing on who we are - Anecdotal evidence of this presents itself in the form of three women spotted in Market Drayton wearing the same jacket.

But It would seem that, so far at least, Shropshire high streets have resisted the advances of the chain store and, far from being a county of clone towns, it retains its individual character .

It sounds like the best advertising slogan never invented for the county: "Shropshire - it's not the same."