Parking issues, higher taxes and rising operating costs were discussed when Sir Roger Gale MP visited Sandwich Convenience Store, owned by Pritesh and Bhavesh Patel, in Sandwich, last week.
At the Kent store, the Patels spoke about the challenges and opportunities facing the shop, which they’ve owned for the past seven years.
They also introduced Sir Roger to the gift shop next door, Balloons R Us, which they acquired in May this year. Also in attendance was Doug Oliver, political engagement coordinator at the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed), which arranged the meeting.
During the meeting, the Fed team raised concerns about parking in the popular medieval town, along with higher National Insurance Contributions and increasing commercial costs, including energy bills necessary for refrigeration.
Potential opportunities to drive footfall, such as parcel collections and collectable items linked to online TikTok trends - including the current Dumpling Squishy toy craze - were also discussed.
Mr Patel spoke about the introduction of the deposit return scheme (DRS) for recycling bottles and cans. He advised he was currently investigating options for installing a return point - potentially a reverse vending machine (RVM) - so local people could return their bottles and cans for recycling, in exchange for a 20p deposit.
The Fed previously met with Sir Roger, who’s been an MP in East Kent since 1983, in Parliament last year and has previously worked with him at many points over his more than four decades in politics. Sir Roger has also visited Mr Patel’s second shop, located in nearby Minster, which he formally opened in July 2023.
After the meeting, Sir Roger said: “I’d like to thank Mr and Mrs Patel for their warm welcome. It was very useful to discuss the problems facing retailers in Sandwich from rising costs to local parking matters. The Fed is rightly concerned about the impact of National Insurance charges and business rates and retail crime. I look forward to working with them on these matters in the future.”
Pritesh Patel said: “It was great to catch up with Sir Roger and we greatly appreciated his visit and interest. It was useful to discuss business in my shop, which is always busy. However, it was good to discuss the political and economic challenges I face, along with many other independent retailers and Fed members.”
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