Sell your goods at the busiest market in the district
Book four Saturdays in a row and pay for only three. Electricity is included; tables are not. Traders must keep a receipt book and clear their space by 7 p.m.
New traders: your first day is half price. Ask for the form at the market office before Thursday. Our Buy Local campaign runs until the end of August.
Dear Ms. Chen,
I ordered two lamps from your website on 3 May (order 22841). One arrived yesterday, but the box for the second was empty.
I have kept the wrapping and taken photographs. I do not need a refund — I would simply like you to send the missing lamp, as they are a pair and one alone is of little use to me.
Could you also tell me whether I should return the empty box? I do not want to throw away anything you may need.
My receipt number is in the attached file.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Hsu
For twenty years the story was simple: large chains opened, small shops closed. In several cities that trend has now slowed, and in a few it has turned around.
One reason is delivery. When almost anything can arrive at your door in a day, the advantage of a huge shop full of goods becomes less important. What a street shop can offer instead is advice, repair and a face you recognize. Some now order straight from a small manufacturer rather than a national chain.
Rent still decides much of it. Where landlords have kept rents moderate, small shops survive; where rents have doubled, the shutters stay down whatever the shopkeepers do.
A survey asked 1,000 shoppers where they bought their last item of clothing.
| Place | Under 25 | 25–49 | 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online | 71% | 58% | 34% |
| Department store | 12% | 24% | 38% |
| Street shop | 9% | 13% | 22% |
| Market stall | 8% | 5% | 6% |
Shoppers could choose only one answer.
The same question was asked in 2021, when 54% of shoppers under 25 said they bought online.