Nearly a month has passed since unrest and riots shook the nation. The racially charged tension in the air appeared to have died down though the riots have once again exposed how local stores stand vulnerable and completely helpless when it comes to angry mobs.
The riots began following the gruesome killing of three little girls in Southport on July 29. This tragic incident quickly sparked a wave of anti-migrant protests, which were said to be fueled by online misinformation regarding the ethnicity and immigration status of the attacker. Far-right groups took to the streets in cities including Bristol, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool, Hull, Belfast, Liverpool, Rotherham, and Sunderland.
Soon, the protests started taking an ugly turn in many cities. It was the town centre and high street stores that majorly bore the brunt of the angry mob, bringing back the ugly memories of the 2011 riots.
Although the triggers for these unrests were different, the impact on retailers mirrored those earlier riots. Retailers and other businesses got caught up in the incidents, suffering damage to their shops and stock alike.
In Hull, rioters broke into Lush, Specsavers, and Shoe Zone stores. A Sainsbury's on Manchester's Mosley Street was forced to close after its shelves were ransacked, while an Iceland store in Middlesbrough was looted.
Several local independent convenience stores were also badly impacted. Leading body Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) confirmed to Asian Trader that couple of dozen stores might have been impacted.
James Lowman, Chief Executive of ACS, said, “We do not have specific figures, but as a rough idea we think a couple of dozen stores suffered looting or criminal damage. There were a small number of physical attacks on retailers and / or colleagues, and probably several hundred stores shut down for some period of time due to fears over violence in their area.”
Windsor Mini Mart in Southport, Sham Supermarket in Belfast and King Store in Liverpool are some of the convenience stores that fell victim to the protesters.
When unrest broke out in the Merseyside town shortly after a vigil in memory of the three children killed in the knife attack, Windsor Mini Mart owner Chanaka Balasuryla closed the shutters early and went home.
However, his store was targeted by the protesters and the retailer watched on CCTV as his business was ripped apart and more than £10,000 worth of stock was looted.
Just days later, King Store in Liverpool was devastated by rampaging looters, who took away £15,000-worth of stock. The store’s shutters were torn down, shelves pillaged, window shattered and stock looted. The store’s cash register was gutted and discarded on the pavement.
Just like Balasuryla, King Store owner Ardalan Othman watched the whole rampage unfolding through CCTV from his home. Elsewhere in Belfast, manager of Sham Supermarket was personally attacked by individuals as masked men “came out of nowhere” just before midnight as he made his way to the burnt-out store.
Sham Supermarket was targeted during Saturday (3) night's disorder, which broke out after an anti-immigration protest in the city. Attempts were again made to torch the business on Monday (5) night but officers were able to put the small fire out before it spread.
Racial Tension and fear
The tension peaked on Aug 7 when protests spread to wider parts of the country and stores were advised to close early. The fact that a good majority of such corner shops (44 per cent) are run by retailers from Asian ethnicity raised a sense of fear that they might be targeted.
A Premier store owner in Peterborough told Asian Trader on Aug 7, “We thought we would be unaffected however there has been an unexpected march announced today within the city so we’ve been preparing for it. We’re considering closing the stores early with safety being the main a concern.”
In Croydon, a Nisa store owner too closed the shop early, suspecting violence in his otherwise peaceful community as “around 40-50 local youths marched and protested in the town centre”.
Both the retailers stated that they felt a rise in racial tension in the air.
One retailer said, “Those customers who would usually engage with us area little reserved. There are awkward exchanges, and it just doesn’t feel right at the moment.”
Another independent convenience retailer based in West Yorkshire, whose own locality remained largely unaffected, told Asian Trader how the scenes of riots that he watched on the news “looked fearful” and watching the looting was “very daunting”.
Lowman from ACS acknowledged that the body was particularly concerned for safety of non-white retailers during the unrest.
(Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Lowman said, “From an ACS perspective, we were all very concerned that retailers would be caught up in the violence due to being close to where incidents were taking place, and knowing that racism was a leading motivation for the riots we were especially concerned for non-white retailers who could have been targeted.
“Our reference point was the 2011 riots in London and elsewhere which retailers bore the brunt of looting, arson and criminal damage. We learned from that experience that the key message was to prioritise people over property and stock, which would mean quite a lot of retailers closing for periods of time – it’s completely unacceptable that they should have to do so but that was probably the only safe option for some businesses based on the information they had.”
ACS engaged with several retailers, mainly to advise them where they and their colleagues could go for help and to encourage them to get accurate local information from the police.
Another leading body of independent retailers, British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA), has slammed the riots, calling it “mindless”.
Andrew Goodacre, chief of BIRA, told Asian Trader, “I was just appalled to see people behaving this way, using an absolutely tragic incident as an excuse to cause such civil unrest. The demonstrations/ riots were mindless and simply an opportunity for a small number of people to create violent havoc and fear for many law-abiding citizens.
“I also worried a lot about the many honest and hard-working retailers who worked in fear of becoming a target due to their ethnicity or misinformation on social media.”
Following looting and vandalism in shops across the country, charity Retail Trust has been seeing a rise in calls from retail staff fearing for their safety. It is working closely with affected retailers to ensure their colleagues are getting the support they need to deal with any difficult experiences.
The worst seem to have passed but the aftermaths are still being felt by those whose businesses were ripped apart.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) revealed that many "small business owners are still feeling on edge”.
Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair at FSB, told Asian Trader, “The recent wave of riots caused huge and totally unacceptable levels of upset and distress in many communities. While it has been reassuring to see a strong response from police and the law, which we hope will deter any similar displays of mindless violence in future, many small business owners are still feeling on edge and some are in the sad position of trying to rebuild following damage to their business premises.”
FSB has called on insurance companies to stand by small businesses.
McKenzie added, “We’d like to see insurance companies standing by their small business customers, paying out claims related to the unrest as swiftly as possible, with no quibbles.
“If a small business’s insurer rejects a claim, or if they did not have a policy which covered the type of damage suffered, the Government and Police and Crime Commissioners should signpost businesses impacted by violence and damage to how to claim for financial support under the Riot Compensation Act 2016.”
(Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
Both ACS and BIRA chiefs have denied any “cause and effect” relation between rising retail crime levels and the looting during the riots. Goodacre, however, added that people who regularly steal from shops are opportunistic and probably did see the opportunity to carry out their crimes little more “under the radar”.
Meanwhile, acknowledging the government’s quick response to rioters, FSB is calling on for a stronger response to retail crime as well to curb the rising “sense of impunity among offenders”.
McKenzie told Asian Trader, “The government has sent a clear message that taking part in riots comes with severe consequences, and we would like to see a strong message as well on punishment for theft and antisocial behaviour in high street businesses, with more resourcing for police to tackle crimes of this nature.
“Even before the riots, nearly half of the small businesses on high streets pointed to an increase in crime or anti-social behaviour in the area as posing the greatest risk to their high street. We have also long been calling for a stronger response to shoplifting, which all too often is not investigated by the police, leading to a sense of impunity among offenders, and despair among retailers, who are hit over and over again.”
FSB has also suggested creation of a single online portal for reporting crime and antisocial behaviour, allowing business complainants and other victims to submit witness statements and simple evidence such as CCTV images directly to police online.
“This would greatly increase the information available to police forces, allowing them to deploy their resources where they will have the most impact,” McKenzie added.
Stay safe, stay informed
Both the bodies, ACS and BIRA, are advising retailers to “priortise people over property” in case of any future incidents.
Hoping for no more such incidents to happen again, Goodacre stated that closing the shop is counter intuitive for local retailers but without extra security staff (not viable for the smaller retailer), it is the best way to keep people, premises and products safe.
His advice is echoed by Lowman who is also advising retailers to “close the store” in case of “credible threat of violence” in the locality.
“The key is to get good intelligence on whether violence is likely, and you can get that from speaking with your local police force lead (and it’s worth building good relationships with the police in any case) or if in doubt calling 101,” Lowman said, adding that getting correct informationis crucial so retailers “not close unnecessarily or open their store and put themselves at risk”.
ACS has been busy in this regard. Lowman told Asian Trader, “We were briefing via government departments into COBRA meetings throughout the week. The key for us was to make sure that retailers could get accurate information from the police.”
Goodacre from BIRA acknowledged quick police response and called on for similar approach in retail crime.
“The government and police responded quickly to the unrest and so the unrest soon ran out of energy. However, there are always victims when these events occur – the public, local businesses and the local communities.
“As part of the ongoing process of dealing with these issues we need to make sure that retailers have the resources available to respond – local neigbourhood policing, supportive insurance companies (where claims are made).
“It is also interesting to see the impact of an efficient court process as the people involved with the unrest are quickly prosecuted and sentenced. A similar approach to retail crime in general would go a long way to helping retailers,” Goodacre said.
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