I just can’t fathom it.
Out and about in Courier Country over the last couple of weekends, I have been struck by just how many shops are closed at times seemingly convenient for the customer.
A week past Sunday, I was in central Broughty Ferry for the opening day of the burgh’s wonderful gala week.
I was just one of a cast of thousands out enjoying the day with their families.
A key element of gala week is the annual shop window competition in which youngsters have to identify the erroneous item contained within the window display of many of the local independent boutiques.
It may sound a little corny but, believe me, the shop window competition is taken very seriously indeed and you see scores of families vying for the best vantage point outside the town’s many and varied outlets.
But to me the most pertinent word in that last sentence is “outside.”
There was a captive and enthusiastic audience but shop after shop remained resolutely shut.
On one of the busiest footfall days of the year, it was as if they did not want people’s business.
It gave the impression the shops did not care, even though I know that’s not the case.
Tesco was open and so was Costa – and they were packed as they always are – but there was precious little else for people to enjoy from a homegrown perspective.
Fast forward a week and I found myself in Dundee city centre.
Again it was a Sunday and, as it was before the sun had passed over the yard arm, I was greeted with a sea of blank shop fascias.
There was plenty of people milling about but not much for them to do save grab a coffee from one of the ubiquitous caffe macchiato merchants.
I took a wander down Whitehall Street into the town’s property district and there were couples peering into windows looking for house inspiration.
Again they were limited to peering as not one of the property shops were open for business despite potential customers having both the time and inclination to spend money on their hands.
It seems mad to me in this day and age that so little facility is made for people who wish to shop or procure services outwith “traditional” hours.
Surely those traditional hours are the times in which most folk with cash in their pocket are working to put it there in the first place?
The early evening is another example of an opportunity lost in town’s and cities up and down the land.
People are spilling out of offices between 5pm and 6pm but that is exactly the time in which the shutters come down and the closed sign goes up.
Surely a little creative thinking – whether that’s in the form of the granting of permissions for opening hour extensions from councils or simply the adoption of new working practices for thousands of businesses which have become stuck in their ways – could open up new revenue streams and help give life to the dead hours during the transition from the day to the night-time economy.
I know many people may baulk at the idea of extended opening and the further commercialisation of life.
But with the internet catering for every whim imaginable on a 24/7 basis, I wonder what the alternative is for the small independents struggling to make ends meet.
They need to load the dice in their favour and using smart solutions to mirror customer shopping habits seems like a no-brainer to me.
If you don’t give the customer what they want, when they want it, then they’ll simply go somewhere that does.
We all know the saying the customer is always right.
They are the ones with the pennies in their pocket to make tills ring and shops simply cannot afford to leave them standing idle on the street.
* Sandra Burke is a whirlwind.
With her flame hair, permanent smile and easy to approach manner, she has made a real impact since taking over as chief executive of Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce little more than a year ago.
Therefore it was with genuine sadness that I heard that Sandra is facing health issues and has been forced to step down from her role with the business group.
I know it was a big call for her to make but it was undoubtedly the right one – health is something you simply cannot afford to play around with.
I wish Sandra well in the months ahead and hope to see her back at her very best soon.