Small Business

FSB launches Keep Trade Local tour

Alice on Sep 2, 2008

Tags: FSB, Retail, Small Business

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is launching its UK Keep Trade Local photography tour, in order to raise awareness of the need to protect Britain’s small independent retailers.

The tour, which is being sponsored by the Arts Council England, will include photographs of independent retailers across the country. The photographs will be displayed in empty shops and town market centres, to display how the spaces could be better used by small businesses.

Maxine Beuret, Keep Trade Local photographer said:

“These small shops offer a personal service because they have an understanding about the product they are selling that big chains just don’t. The shopkeeper can give you the knowledge about the product they are selling, be it a cut of cheese or vintage dress, because such products are almost always locally sourced and hand-picked.

“These photos represent the richness and resources that independent shops bring to town centres and prove that local retailers are vital to our communities.”

The tour, which comes as a part of the FSB’s wider Keep Trade Local campaign, will visit eight regions across the UK, starting Melton Mowbray in Leicester on the 2nd September 2008.