YOUR editor is worried that the recent closure of a couple of shops that were a real alternative to supermarkets could flag a bigger problem.
I don’t know if all readers are aware of the closure, as the last rays of summer slipped over the horizon, of Real Food in Exeter and Nourish in Topsham. Both early pioneers of the zero waste, shop local idea. A sad loss of sustainable independent shops that were a real alternative to supermarkets.
I spoke to both shop owners days before their closure. In both cases I believe it’s down to their surrounding communities not shopping in their local shops.
Central Exeter has seen a reduction of homeowners living in the city centre all year around. There’s been a big rise in city centre student accommodation and also desirable second homes in central locations. Topsham has seen a massive rise in Air BnBs and 2nd home properties.
Both shop owners cited that a lot of their customers came from outside the local area. Nourish owner Sarah Martin told local press: “The closure of Topsham has been a long time coming unfortunately. I don’t know if it’s partially due to the number of second homes there, but a lot of my customers came from outside Topsham.
“I was one of the very first pioneers for this type of shop back in March 2018 and it’s been very heartening to see others following my path and opening other shops locally; it’s just a shame that there isn’t enough custom from within the town itself to continue to sustain the shop.”
For decades we have known from experience in our desirable coastal communities in the South West what happens to local businesses when the area is targeted by second home owners. Local independent businesses that rely on the local population to shop in them, struggle in the off season, when the holiday season has ended. It’s all very well saying tourism in Devon is vital – but the fact is it’s mainly seasonal.
I studied tourism at South Devon College in the late 80s and we knew then that unsustainable tourism is tourism that fails to conserve local resources, and/or does not support the lives and culture of local people.
If we, as a county are to continue to let our villages empty in winter, and fail to support our local businesses that are open all year round then this will be the outcome across many more local communities.
The risk is, that once all the community infrastructure is gone, then the holiday makers stop coming. Often, this is delayed, by well meaning shop purchasers from out of the locale, opening second businesses with seasonal shops that close their doors as the holidaymakers are leaving. Leaving the local population that’s there all year around even more deprived. It’s a situation that’s all too common in parts Wales and Cornwall.
I’m not saying our tourist communities are doomed, but we do need to be aware of what it signals when a lot of independent businesses start to close – particularly those providing local food and produce. The closure of these two businesses could be the canary in the tin mine, and heralding a serious issue – it’s long been known that resources consumed by tourists are frequently produced very far away from the point of consumption, be that in large national chains of food sellers, or by self caterers bringing all their food from home.
The essential point here is that we do not lose our local suppliers of local foods. Shops close leaving only those with long food chains (we’ve all seen those holiday shops abroad that only sell long life shelf products) and the proliferation of seasonal fast food chains.
These are so-called ‘food swamps’ – areas where an abundance of high-calorie, low-nutrient junk food outlets line the streets, and there’s only a supply of unhealthy foods in supermarkets. Where there are healthy options they are often more expensive and less accessible to all. The prevalence of food swamps breeds more food swamps, and make it increasingly difficult for locals to access real healthy food.
In Devon we have been re-localising our economies around sustainably productive land, which has helped provide food security as well as education, training and job opportunities for local people, but it’s hampered by ‘holiday home’ tourism.
In 1980 Richard Butler published an influential paper called ‘The Concept Of A Tourist Area Cycle Of Evolution: Implications For Management Of Resources’. He argued that the development of tourism in an area would eventually exceed ‘carrying capacity’.
The idea of carrying capacity originally comes from farming: the carrying capacity is the maximum number of people that can be fed on the food produced in an area. Over time, the concept of carrying capacity has been expanded into tourism. There are three main types of carrying capacity that apply to tourism: physical, perceptual and environmental. Butler proposed at the point a tourist destination exceeded carrying capacity it would need to rethink its approach to tourism or it would become unsustainable.
His model suggested, and us locals should take note, that all tourist destinations carry the seeds of their own destruction. That old adage that “an attraction can become too popular for their own good”. Butler concluded that a tourist destination should be aware of exceeding ‘carrying capacity’ and if the tourism area successfully adapted, it could enter a period of sustainable tourism called ‘rejuvenation’. If not, then unsustainable tourism would lead to a period of ‘decline’.