As the country falls into recession, spare a thought for the small independent business on your local high street this Christmas - that is the plea from St Ives' businessman Martin Cooper.

 

This Saturday (December 3) the nation celebrates Small Business Saturday, and people across Cambridgeshire are being encouraged to choose small, local businesses to shop for Christmas over the larger national companies and supermarkets.

Martin Cooper, owner of The Refill Shop of Ikigai in St Ives, said: "Times are really tough at the moment for small business owners - people have less money to spend and the cost of the basics is going up.

"But it's especially difficult for small business owners, who have the same cost pressures, but still need to sell to keep their business open.

"This Christmas I hope people can think small for their gift shopping and choose to spend a few pounds of one of the hundreds of small businesses across the county - it can make the difference between local businesses like mine being open in the new year or not."

Martin is also asking people to remember that shopping locally isn't only about keeping our high street full of shops, it's also about keeping the environmental impact of Christmas shopping low by keeping down the miles too.

He added: "We can't compete with huge online businesses and supermarkets, but as a small business we hope we can offer something a bit different for people with a personalised service - that won't cost the earth in any way."

Small Business Saturday is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign, that highlights small business success and encourages consumers to 'shop local' and support small businesses in their communities and takes place on December 3.