Bid to lure shoppers to town centre

At least 15 small retailers in the heart of the town have been forced to stop trading so far this year.

Now the plight of Bexhill's shopkeepers will be raised at the May 28 meeting of the town's Chamber of Commerce.

Press officer Sue Spice will call on members to make the wide variety of goods sold by independent shops the hub of an advertising and publicity campaign to bring in more tourists and keep the town centre flourishing.

She wants the chamber to launch a recruitment campaign to pay for it.

Sue will ask members, keen to combat the growing number of failed businesses in a difficult commercial climate, to consider advertising not only in Bexhill's local paper, but also in Kent and Sussex newspapers, or even mailshots in nearby towns.

She says it is vital to maximise the competitive edge Bexhill's independent shops have over the sameness of uniform, national chain stores in other towns.

Sue said: "We have 150 members, who each pay 40 a year. If we recruit more members we can pay for advertising in other towns.

"Our small shops have so much to offer. We should look at out-of-town promotion of Bexhill as a shopping destination and I will bring this up at our May meeting."

Anyone interested in supporting the campaign should ring Sue on 842892.

*Last Friday the Index Catalogue Store in Devonshire Road closed, ending the chance for Bexhill's elderly or frail to choose furniture, clothes, linen, toys, garden and household goods without trapsing round the shops. Goods were collected next day.

Now the nearest Index catalogue shop is in Hastings.

The closure marked around 30 changes in town centre shops in four months. Around 15 shops have closed since Christmas and another 15 opened.

Index media spokeswoman, Janine O'Neil, said the company last week closed three of its nationwide stores - Bexhill, Whitehaven, Cumbria and Alfreton, Derbyshire.

She said: "We've had to look at whether these stores make enough money. We decided they would be better incorporated into existing Littlewood stores.

"Bexhill shoppers can find our catalogue service at Littlewoods Eastbourne and Littlewoods Hastings.

"There have been no redundancies as all staff have been redeployed into the Littlewoods network."