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Its great to see people recognising the importance of local businesses! They're the core of most communities, and if we let them die then the community around t

Its great to see people recognising the importance of local businesses! They're the core of most communities, and if we let them die then the community around them also dies, and will be hugely difficult to bring back again. We're working on this problem for food shops at Hubbub[1], providing a way for people who would like to support local shops to order online, and receive delivery at a convenient time. Through doing that they get better (and often cheaper) food, and the money stays in their local community, rather than going to a multinational chain of supermarkets. If you're as passionate about supporting local shops as we are we'd love to talk to you, we're hiring now! Check out the details at http://developers.hubbub.co.uk/ http://developers.hubbub.co.uk/ or drop me an email. [1] https://www.hubbub.co.uk/ https://www.hubbub.co.uk/

martinced 14y ago
"Its great to see people recognising the importance of local businesses! They're the core of most communities..." It makes sense. Most people also don't realize that SMEs both in Europe and in U.S. represent more than 50% of the GDP. SMEs are the real backbone of the economy but they don't get as much spotlights as big corporation do.
onemorepassword 14y ago
How do you get local retailers to participate? In my experience, small store owners are so self-involved that they don't want to put any time and energy (let alone money) into cooperation, and are utterly averse to innovation. Basically, anybody I know who has ever tried anything in this area now thinks "fuck it, let them get killed by big chains and online shops", because there seems to be zero survival instinct in this industry. Where I live, and I believe it's the same in most of the UK, shop owners still close their doors at exactly those ours when the consumers with any kind of buying power want to shop, despite all the competition. They don't even want the support of cold hard cash in exchange for goods, let alone anything "online".
- redwood 14y ago
  Another way of looking at it: There are millions of businesses trying to target local businesses, and they're all calling many times a day. If you're a small business you have so many pitches coming your way, you have to say "enough's enough" at a point and focus on your core business.

martinced 14y ago

"Its great to see people recognising the importance of local businesses! They're the core of most communities..." It makes sense. Most people also don't realize that SMEs both in Europe and in U.S. represent more than 50% of the GDP. SMEs are the real backbone of the economy but they don't get as much spotlights as big corporation do.

onemorepassword 14y ago

How do you get local retailers to participate? In my experience, small store owners are so self-involved that they don't want to put any time and energy (let alone money) into cooperation, and are utterly averse to innovation. Basically, anybody I know who has ever tried anything in this area now thinks "fuck it, let them get killed by big chains and online shops", because there seems to be zero survival instinct in this industry. Where I live, and I believe it's the same in most of the UK, shop owners still close their doors at exactly those ours when the consumers with any kind of buying power want to shop, despite all the competition. They don't even want the support of cold hard cash in exchange for goods, let alone anything "online".

redwood 14y ago
Another way of looking at it: There are millions of businesses trying to target local businesses, and they're all calling many times a day. If you're a small business you have so many pitches coming your way, you have to say "enough's enough" at a point and focus on your core business.