Retailers need to keep serving community

In a new report published by The British Retail Consortium, research shows that UK retailers are prepared to invest vast amounts of time and money into local charitable work. In ‘Retail in Society: Serving our communities’ cases show that sometimes

up to £25million has been spent by traders and thousands of hours by staff on community and special projects.

In his first speech as the new Chairman of the BRC, Rob Templeman will confirm that retailers will continue to support local communities in the years to come at the representative group’s annual Parliamentary Reception tonight.

“We all know that due to the economic climate that there is less money around. Everyone from businesses, to families, to local authorities, is feeling the pinch,” Templeman will say. “And as local authority budgets reduce, many local groups will be turning to business and asking them to dig a little deeper in support of community activities.
“But as this report clearly demonstrates, the retail sector already does so much to support the communities in which they operate. We understand that in the future we may need to do more and retailers will not shrink from this challenge.”

Templeman, who has previously worked as CEO at Debenhams and chairman at Graduate Fashion Week claims more still needs to be done by the Government to help retailers create jobs and to help local communities.