News

Ahead of the official launch of the 2014 Local Shop Report tomorrow, ACS Chairman Jonathan James appeared on television and radio this morning to discuss the findings of the report, which reveal continued growth in the convenience sector.

On September 10th, ACS will be launching the latest edition of its flagship research project, The Local Shop Report 2014, at an exclusive event at The Studio in Birmingham.

The report brings together new ACS research with existing data from him!, William Reed and IGD to give a compelling snapshot of the convenience sector today. Previous reports have been used in the industry by retailers, suppliers, Government, academics and analysts as the baseline for understanding the local shop market.

From today (2^nd September 2014) new regulations require retailers to assess the products they sell and to report suspicious transactions of bomb-making materials and their precursors (chemicals that can be used to manufacture explosives). The suspicious transaction reporting regime will apply to customers buying specific products who:

In response to a study on plain packaging in Australia, ACS has reiterated its call to the Department of Health to look closely at the operational impact that tobacco plain packaging would have on retailers and other businesses in the UK.

 ACS Chief Executive James Lowman has appeared on BBC radio and television to discuss the retention of current Sunday Trading regulations.

Speaking on Radio 5 Live and BBC Breakfast this morning on the 20 year anniversary of the introduction of the Sunday trading rules, Mr Lowman spoke of the important compromise that balances economic, social and cultural considerations.

‘Managing Health And Safety’ and ‘Selling Fireworks’ are the two latest Assured Advice Guides published by ACS under its innovative primary authority compliance scheme. The scheme, which is free to all ACS members, provides retailers with excellent tailored advice developed by retail and local authority experts.

Once members sign up to the scheme and use the guidance, they can be sure that their policies and procedures will not be challenged or changed by any other local authority.

ACS has welcomed a new crackdown on the illicit trade in tobacco and alcohol announced by HM Revenue and Customs.

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “We believe that any retailer who sells non-duty paid alcohol or tobacco should be subject to the full force of the law. This new wave of activity from HMRC is a welcome sign, and their commitment to working with licensing authorities gives hope that more retailers selling illicit alcohol and tobacco will lose their licence.”

High Streets Minister Penny Mordaunt has urged town and cities across Britain to get their applications in for the Great British High Street competition before it closes on 30 August 2014.

The minister has written to all town teams and the local community to encourage them to take part in the competition, run by the Future High Street Forum, to find Britain's best high streets. Many town teams have already entered the 7 separate categories: city centres, town centres, market towns, coastal communities, villages, parades and London.

ACS Chief Executive, James Lowman, featured today on BBC Radio 2, the Jeremy Vine Show, talking about shop theft and a scheme in Durham proposing to let first time shop thieves off without any formal sanction.

Lowman said: “We support innovative approaches to tackling shop theft but we worry about the message that this sends. Shop theft is not a victimless crime, it has very serious implications for retailers, their staff and business.”

ACS has welcomed an announcement from energy company Opus on plans to stop the use of rollover contracts.

In an announcement posted on the company’s website, Opus state that will cease offering the automatic rollover contracts to all new customers as of October 2014. All existing customer contracts will stop auto-renewal by Spring 2015.