Spend an extra fiver in independent shops in the Harborough district – and help to save your favourite high street shopkeepers

Spend an extra fiver in Market Harborough as well as Lutterworth, Kibworth and Broughton Astley – and help to save your favourite high street shopkeepers.

That’s the powerful plea from the man who leads scores of independent shops and businesses in Market Harborough as the Covid-19 pandemic plunges some of them into serious doubt.

Jarrod Burke, 24, made his heartfelt appeal as the special FiverFest campaign urging people to shop locally gets under way across Harborough as well as all over the UK.

A host of shops along with traders at Harborough Market are offering special deals on items for £5 as part of the two-week national blueprint - part of the ‘Totally Locally’ mission.

“Please get out and about over the next fortnight – and as much as you can for the rest of this year – to back this fantastic initiative.

“I know that money is tight for a lot of people in the middle of this devastating coronavirus crisis,” said Jarrod, chair of the 70-strong Harbs Collective.

“But if you can afford to spend just an extra fiver in our brilliant local shops and stores that would be such a massive help.

“Our local butcher’s, fishmonger’s, confectioners, jewellers and clothes outlets – the list goes on and on.

“Please go out and back them all.

“The FiverFest promotion generates almost £18 million for local economies up and down the country.

“That’s a huge amount of money at the best of times.

“And especially now that so many of my fellow retailers are struggling so badly day to day and week to week that sort of cash is absolutely vital,” said Jarrod, who runs Randalls American sweet shop on Church Square, Market Harborough.

“Our independent businessmen and women are living and getting by day to day at the moment.

“I can totally understand why in this very worrying time a lot of people are being very careful about how they spend.

“But it’s truly heartbreaking to see some of my colleagues in Market Harborough and throughout the area so up against it.

“One or two are giving it until Christmas.

“And if things don’t pick up and we have a poor Christmas – which is priceless to so many of us – then they’ll just call it a day and close down.

“Every day you wake up and think ‘am I going to make any money today?’

“Personally I’m doing all right.

“I have branched out online and it’s really taking off.

“I didn’t want to go down that route because I’ve only ever wanted to run a shop.

“But if I don’t diversify and offer home deliveries and click and collect I’ll go down as well,” insisted the highly-engaging, positive young entrepreneur.

“It’s almost impossible to plan ahead because the lockdowns and restrictions we are all facing show no sign of going away.

“And so many of the rules and regulations governing retail are confusing and so vague.

“Our high streets are suffering badly.

“And we all still have overheads like rent and rates to fork out while this pandemic carries on.

“Some of our local landlords have been great with retailers, some have been atrocious.

“Realistically we could all do with more financial support from the Government.

“We are winging it at the moment – but the trouble is we’ve been winging it for ages,” said Jarrod.

“We are stuck in a sort of no man’s land.

“We don’t want to lose any of our top-notch local independent shops.

“Our retailers here are highly adaptable, flexible and responsive – and so many have reinvented themselves during this awful year.

“But we can only survive and go forward with the support of our amazing local customers.

“So please continue to get behind us, keep us afloat and keep us alive – and we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.”