Forum topic: Why alienate your customers?

Very disappointing that some of the shops and cafes on Alderman's Hill that I support every week have decided to actively oppose the Low Traffic Neighbourhood trial by putting posters in the window. I will be asking them why they are opposing a trial to improve the neighbourhood and letting them know I won't be spending money again until they remove the posters . I'll also be pointing out that if more people walked and cycled past their shops instead of driving elsewhere they may get an uptick in business.

In these hard retail times lesson #1 is surely not to purposefully disenfranchise your closest customers, potentially for ever if they decamp elsewhere. I’m intrigued by the tactic, but also the strategic difference in approach to Enfield Town traders who positioned themselves completely differently when arguing traffic should NOT be routed along nearby Cecil Road, rather max traffic should be on Church Street itself so as to see the shops as they drove through – a street where coincidentally there is no parking other than about 8 spaces at its far western end. It also sits at odds with very successful Crouch End with its uber rare parking spaces and permanent nose to tail congestion. Maybe the thinking is that there’s not enough empty units on PG high street?

Presumably the underlying problem lies with a society which leaves its front door and automatically steps into a car. So I guess that opposing the plans for the QN would be thought of as a way to keep customers in general happy. Probably the restaurants think loosing you is less damaging than loosing lots of other customers.

For making future approaches it would be helpful to know how the restaurants responded............my bet is they are/were very surprised that anyone bothered about reducing speed limits, and the possibility of making life safer/better for kids.

I came across the attached letter from the Green Lanes Business Association listing their objections to the proposed scheme which might help to explain why these local businesses are displaying the Keep Our Neighbourhood Open posters.

Note by moderator: A transcript of this document is now available at https://www.pgweb.uk/forum/traffic-roads-and-parking/1078-why-alienate-your-customers?start=8#5087

Hard to read as the resolution is a bit fuzzy on my screen however some old fashioned xenopobia/reverse snobbery has appeared to rear its head. Apparently there weren't any issues until non locals started moving into the area.... how dare they.

Also the staggering level of ignorance and anecdata demonstrated puts me off ever shopping in any PG business that's part of this group again.

With 60 stores a day closing in the UK do these businesses not understand that insulting x % of your dwindling customer base is commercial suicide? As we are at the start of a new decade my advice to these people is to spend a few hours considering what’s happening in the real world - climate change, growth in online retailing, desire for experiences over ‘things’ etc etc ,and think ‘how will my business prosper in this new world’. I’m afraid that if they keep looking backwards and don't ditch the false assumptions and beliefs in the note many wont last the year let alone the decade.

Is it possible for someone to post a copy that can be read?