News

Local MP, Sajid Javid, recently met with convenience store retailer, Chaz Chahal, in his Costcutter store situated in Bromsgrove.

With ACS, Chaz invited his local MP to visit his store to highlight the important role that convenience stores play in local communities during the run up to the general election in May 2015. The pair discussed a variety of issues including parking, local competition and help for small businesses.

Mr Javid said: “It was fantastic to meet Chaz in his store. This is another example of a successful local business.

Councils are being urged to use their business rates powers to increase access to free-to-use cash machines on high streets and in town centres.

Companies who install and operate cash machines generally pay business rates to the local authority for each machine.

Small convenience stores can struggle with this despite there being help available from Government that reduces costs by offering business rates discounts to these firms.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has revealed that retail sales are forecast to exceed £335bn in 2014, an increase of 15 per cent on 2010.

Estimates from BIS also show this has been a record year for smaller firms who have turned over £71bn over the last year.

In the run up to the New Year, many convenience retailers will be maximising their sales in store through a range of seasonal products including fireworks.

ACS has welcomed new measures to cap the costs retailers face when processing debit and credit cards. The EU intends to limit the ‘interchange fees’ charged by banks to card providers such as Visa and MasterCard to 0.2% on debit cards and 0.3% on credit cards.

The Department for Business has provided greater clarity on the ongoing legal issues surrounding backdated holiday pay, tabling regulations to introduce a two year limitation on how far back a claim for deduction from wages can go.

ACS has welcomed a consultation from the Department of Health on introducing age restrictions for the purchase of electronic cigarettes. The proposed regulations would:

The number of retailers increasing their staff hours has taken a sharp downtown since the 19p increase of the National Minimum Wage in October, according to new research from the Association of Convenience Stores.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed a report by the Communities and Local Government Select Committee criticising the application of planning policy by local authorities.  In its report on the operation of the National Planning Policy Framework, the Committee has drawn attention to shortcomings in the way planning decisions are reached, and has made a number of recommendations relating to town centres and retail planning, including:

Steve Baker, MP for Wycombe, spent Friday afternoon (15^th December) working hard in one of his constituent's award-winning convenience store. Raaj Chandarana invited his local MP to be part of his annual community Christmas party at the High Wycombe store, Tara's News, after meeting him at the ACS Heart of the Community event in October.