Viewpoint: 20-minute plan would be a boon to c-stores

However, it remains to be seen to what extent we will ever go back to business as usual. There are already moves afoot to re-engineer our towns, cities and the retail landscape itself. Work is under way on the Scottish government’s Retail Strategy and several other concepts are gaining support from policy- and decision-makers.

One of these is something called the 20-Minute Neighbourhood. This is aimed at bringing about a “shift from business as usual” by ensuring key services (and jobs) are within easy reach of people in communities – ideally they should be accessible within a 20-minute walk.

The idea is given a prominent place in the current programme for government. It has been spurred on by the need to respond to the impact of the pandemic and it seems that significant funding will be made available to make things happen. It’s clear local convenience stores would have a central role to play in this. We know from the Local Shop Report that if the local shop were not there, customers would have to travel almost two miles to the next grocery outlet, that 54% of customers walk to the store and that customers typically visit four times every week. Additionally, we know shop staff have an average travel time of 13 minutes to get to work.

Let’s be honest: during the pandemic, there have been gains for the sector – achieved by a massive effort admittedly – with a big move towards local shopping. This new idea of the 20-Minute Neighbourhood potentially offers a way of building on this. There are always problems with getting involved in these government-driven initiatives, but the reality is that once such ideas move into policy, we simply cannot afford not to get involved. We need to shape them for the benefit of retailers.

Pete Cheema is chief executive of the Scottish Grocers’ Federation