A family photography business in Birmingham is considering leaving its long-established premises as rising costs deepen the crisis facing UK high streets.
Surpreet Suri’s father built the business over four decades, expanding it to four locations across the city. Today, only one shop remains, on Kings Heath High Street, where higher running costs are forcing the family to reconsider its future.
“We are at a point now where we are seriously considering how do we get out of this space purely to reduce costs,” Suri said.
The shop’s prominent location brought greater visibility but also a heavier financial burden. Despite a loyal customer base, Suri said the business was becoming increasingly difficult to make profitable.
“We’re sort of working our fingers to the bone, and that’s the side that people don’t see,” he said.
Rising costs squeeze independent retailers
The pressure comes as the Government prepares to deliver its Budget, with attention focused on whether further relief from business rates could help smaller firms.
Business rates are a property-based tax paid by companies occupying commercial premises, although some smaller properties already qualify for relief. For Suri, however, the tax is only one part of the strain.
Rent, VAT, wages, pension costs, energy bills and specialist materials are all reducing his earnings. Refilling one of the shop’s professional printers with ink costs about £2,000, he said.
Asked how much he earns, Suri said: “I pay myself less than the minimum wage.” He added: “When I say that I live month to month, I literally mean that.”
The business is also competing with online retailers, which account for 28 per cent of UK retail sales. Customers often expect independent shops to match internet prices, even when they are seeking specialist expertise and a personalised service.
“People come to me wanting the quality that we provide, but they want me to match online pricing, which I simply can’t do,” Suri said.
He acknowledged that customers were themselves dealing with the rising cost of living. “You can’t blame the customer or the consumer for not being able to support your business all of the time,” he said.
High streets struggle to remain relevant
Kings Heath reflects problems found across Britain, where boarded-up units have become more common and independent retailers are being replaced by pawnbrokers, betting shops, vape outlets, charity shops and major chains.
Nearly 14 per cent of high street retail units are estimated to be vacant. For some shoppers, the changing appearance of their local centre has become a reason to stay away, while online shopping offers greater convenience and a wider choice.
One Birmingham shopper said the high street had become repetitive, while another said there was sometimes “no inspiration” when visiting. The same shopper said they wanted to see more distinctive local businesses and believed the Government should make it easier for entrepreneurs to open them.
The problems extend beyond Birmingham. During a parliamentary inquiry into revitalising the UK’s high streets earlier this month, Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said recent business rates reforms had failed to provide the expected benefits for smaller retailers.
Goodacre told MPs that some independent shops were facing higher bills, while a large supermarket near his home was set to pay substantially less.
The inquiry also heard allegations that some central London souvenir shops use successive limited companies to avoid tax, allowing them to pay rents that compliant businesses could not afford. The claims were presented as part of concerns that enforcement, as well as tax reform, would be needed to support legitimate retailers.
Suri said a reduction in business rates would be welcome but would not, on its own, resolve the difficulties facing high street businesses.
“That’s a small step in the right direction,” he said. “But if the intention really is to help the high streets thrive, there’s a lot of change that needs to be made.”
His challenge to the Chancellor is to spend a month or two running a real high street business and experience the pressures first-hand.
After 40 years in business, Suri’s family now faces the possibility of leaving a location chosen to help the shop grow, simply because it can no longer afford to remain there.
“If [the government] makes it easier to actually run an independent business successfully, that’s the first domino in a positive effect that could really help our country,” he said.
