Despite hundreds visiting the high street every day, traditional business owners say shoppers are turning to online shopping which is leading to stores shutting their doors.
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00:00 Lunchtime in Maidstone. The High Street is full of hundreds out to meet their
00:06 friends, to get some food or perhaps just do a bit of window shopping. But one
00:11 business says although it looks busy most residents out and about are
00:14 actually just looking to do some window shopping and will actually end up buying
00:17 what they want online instead of from the High Street. Chris has earned a living
00:22 on the High Street for close to 30 years selling fresh fruit and veg. The change
00:27 in consumer shopping habits has left him concerned for the future of his business.
00:33 You get a lot of people in Maidstone now but not a lot of shoppers. A lot of
00:38 them are using the shops as window shopping to then go home and order online.
00:42 People coming out for a day out a lot of the time. Don't get me wrong, there's obviously
00:45 still people shopping but not like it used to be. The internet has taken a lot
00:50 of the shopping away from town centres. Obviously very detrimental for me as
00:54 well because less and less people coming into town. All these things are having a
00:58 knock-on and there's so many knock-ons everything can take. Another local man
01:03 who helped design Fremlin Walk says it's the creation of Eclipse Park, a nearby
01:08 retail park, that led big names like M&S and Next to move out of the town. It also
01:14 lost its Zara last month. It's set to be replaced soon. He fears other household
01:20 names will follow suit and soon leave the town. If a retailer can move out of
01:25 town, and they are anchor stores because that's why they're attracting them out of
01:29 town, into a cheaper box, their costs go down, why wouldn't you do that as a
01:35 retailer? But the council should never allow this to happen. They should
01:39 never allow. They've destroyed their own town centre by giving planning permission.
01:42 The leader of Maidstone Borough Council said traditional shopping streets are
01:46 under pressure and we anticipate further consolidation of these areas. Out-of-town
01:52 areas such as Eclipse are another factor and whilst we would perhaps have preferred
01:56 the two retailers there to have remained in the town centre, we have to acknowledge
02:00 that their business model is designed to meet their customers needs and is
02:04 different. They're also developing a town centre strategy aiming to take into
02:08 account trends over the coming decade. In other parts of the high street, stores
02:13 are left with shutters down and empty shelves and little talk of what it's to
02:17 be replaced with. It is horrible when you walk past like Dorothy Perkins right
02:22 next to us and it's all shut up and I say that it seems to be more vape shops
02:27 than anything now in Maidstone which is not very good really for the younger
02:32 generation. It's lovely and very active. I won't use the word active because
02:38 compared to other places I've seen, some high streets like in Chatham is a little
02:43 bit going down but this they've maintained their pace since I came here
02:47 and improving even. I don't even come to town anymore to shop if I want anything
02:52 I buy online now. As the habits of shoppers change, local businesses are
02:56 calling for consumers to think closely about where they're putting their money
03:00 and they're hoping they won't be one of many who've had to close their doors.
03:04 Sophia Aitken for KMTV in Maidstone.