The End of Arundel’s “local shop”?

DURING lock down these shops have been more important than ever. Arundel has several independent shops selling vital grocery and other provisions to our residents, yet within five years Jay predicts “we won’t exist… supermarkets are killing us…they want to kill the small shops…it is now very hard for us. People only come to us for the bread and milk and bits and pieces, they are not doing any bulk buying….in that sense we are only just surviving ourselves”.

‘It used to be the case that supermarkets and small traders could buy from the same wholesaler at the same prices. This meant that small shopkeepers could compete with the supermarkets when deciding on pricing. Since Tesco bought Bookers (the cash and carry for small shopkeepers) prices for small traders have increased to the extent that Tesco are now in a position to charge us, wholesale, more to buy than Tesco are actually charging as a retailer. Since they bought Bookers, prices for small traders have increased to the extent that recently Tesco were able to sell a cauliflower for 39 pence, whilst small traders had to pay £1.09 to the wholesaler. There used to be one wholesale price for wines, spirits and other products: that is no longer the case. They are charging us more to buy as a wholesaler than they are charging as a retailer.’

I interviewed Jay with the aim of telling his story, but, as a result of his modesty, about himself and about his role in the community, I did not succeed in getting any more than the bare bones…

Jay was born in Jaffna, Tamil Nadhu, India and has lived for the majority of his life in England. He came to England in his late teens to study advanced accounts and then chose to stay.

Having completed his course, he worked in accounts for six months, but, due to family circumstances, left to join Tesco in Crawley, working in loss prevention, where he learnt about trade and customer service. He stayed there for nine years, and married his wife Bina, who was a local Crawley girl.

Jay and Bina were both very hard working and keen to have the chance of doing “something for ourselves”. They set about trying to find a shop to take over. This was not to prove so easy – they visited eighty-eight shops the furthest of which was in Wales. The Jarvis Road store had been run by Howard and his wife for eighteen years. Jay and Bina were keen to take it on, but were initially turned down, only finally succeeding because they had the necessary post office qualification.

When Jay first arrived in 2005 he was warned that there might be difficulties in not being accepted by the community, but being the determined character he is he felt that he would do his utmost to “do a good job” and so win people over. With the help of Jenny and Jane who had worked at the store for a long time already, (and to both of whom Jay would like to express his gratitude), Jay and Bina completely won the local community over. Within a year Jay felt ‘totally accepted”.

Proof of his popularity in the community when Jay was seriously ill in 2016, at one stage being given only an hour to live, he received fantastic community support, with a wide variety of Arundel locals visiting him in hospital and helping with transport for Bina.

The hours of 6.30am – 8.00pm, seven days a week Jay describes as, with the help of his staff, not being a problem. He used to take time off annually to see family but has not managed to do this since 2016.

Beyond the shop and his family, Jay has few passions. He used to enjoy cricket, though this has lapsed unless India is playing Pakistan! He still enjoys gardens and plants, though he claims not to know what they are called!

Jay’s modest attitude to his exemplary community service is: “All the shopkeepers do this. It is the best thing to look after your own community and they’ll look after you. Shopkeepers play a major role when people need it. We help so many elderly people in lock down ….it’s what local shopkeepers do -if someone needs a pint of milk we take it. It’s like being in the front line,’ but Jay is repeatedly at pains to emphasise that to him this is “normal” not ‘special’.

His ideal future is to carry on with the shop for as long as “we have local support. If the locals don’t support us, the Coop will survive, but not the small general provision grocery shops”. Jay describes himself as too old to play cricket and he has lost touch with accountancy. He and Bina would really like to carry on doing a job that they clearly do so well.

Let’s hope for the sake of Arundel this can happen!