News

Award winning independent retailer, Sunder Sandher, has met local MP, Chris White, in his store to discuss some of the key issues that have been affecting his business ahead of the election in May.

Sunder talked to Chris White MP about the savings that he had recently made on his business rates by going through the Rates Bill line by line and making sure it matched up with his store. Through attention to detail alone, Sunder reclaimed over £4,000 in overpaid business rates.

ACS is challenging retailers to find and share the best ideas in convenience stores from around the globe as part of a host of changes to the industry leading Summit conference, taking place in Birmingham on April 21^st 2015.

This year, the Summit programme for 2015 will be split in to three inspiring sections, ‘The Big Download’, ‘The Master Plan’ and ‘The Ideas Studio’.

ACS appeared on BBC Newsnight last night to discuss changing consumer habits and trends toward more convenience shopping.

In response to a report published on Monday by Goldman Sachs, which was critical of the number of supermarkets in operation, ACS Chief Executive James Lowman was joined by journalist and broadcaster Harry Wallop in a discussion with presenter Evan Davis about the growth of the convenience sector and online retailing.

Independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers and the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) are offering a reward of up to £10,000 for information leading to the location, arrest and conviction of Michael McInerney

The 32-year-old, of no fixed abode, was arrested in connection with the murder of shop owner Arulchelvam Prasanna last year but failed to answer bail and is still on the run from police.

Father-of-one Mr Prasanna, from Watford, was found with severe head injuries in a Costco car park in Hartspring Lane, Bushey, Watford, at 2.45pm on May 26, 2013.

ACS is urging retailers to be prepared for the implementation of the tobacco display ban.

In April 2015, stores under 3000 sq ft will have to cover their tobacco displays. Larger stores have been subject to the display ban legislation since 2012.

When the display rule comes in, smokers will continue to be able to buy their cigarettes and tobacco exactly as they do now, and the new rules will not limit availability.

Two alcohol policy issues close to ACS’ heart are duty fraud and licensing law, and I think these are more closely linked than you might think.  Once in a while, we hear that alcohol harm is linked to the growth in the number of off licences, with responsible and irresponsible retailers lumped in together when their impact on the areas where they trade could not be more different.

The national Great British High Street competition, launched by the Future High Street Forum, celebrates the achievements of local people in making their high streets great places to live, work and shop.

The winners were selected across a range of categories for their ability to innovate, collaborate and adapt to changing consumer habits.

Judges visited 21 shortlisted areas and the winners are:

Today (6^th November), ACS took part in the Small Business Saturday UK Launch Event in Wales. Small Business Saturday is a day to celebrate all of the fantastic small businesses in the UK and encourages communities to support them in the run up to Christmas and in future.

The event was held in the National Assembly for Wales, with Janet Finch-Saunders AM, chair of the Cross Party Group on Small Shops; Shane Brennan, ACS Public Affairs Director; and Michelle Oven, National Campaign Director at Small Business Saturday UK speaking to a room full of small business owners.

Local shops have welcomed the announcement from the Competition Markets Authority to conduct a full market investigation into lending to the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) market.  The investigation will look specifically at lending to SMEs and core products such as business current accounts.

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “We welcome the CMA decision to investigate SME lending. Access to finance and fair bank charges are key to ensuring that local shops can grow and create more jobs in their communities.

ACS has responded to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) consultation on how to prevent avoidance of the exclusivity clause ban in zero-hours contracts.

The government’s Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill recently introduced a provision to ban the use of exclusivity clauses. An exclusivity clause in a zero hours contract is when the employer prevents the individual from working for someone else, even though they themselves do not guarantee any hours of work.