Shop small and support independents this festive season

At this time of year, we are usually gearing up to our busiest market of them all. Our December event attracts over 10,000 visitors and is a date in the calendars of our traders and Frome’s independent shopkeepers. It is always exciting to see how popular the event has become, and to see so many of your choosing to shop with small independents, creatives and primary producers, rather than with multinational businesses.

As we lean into the current lockdown and approach the Christmas shopping season, our hearts go out to all of the independent businesses who are continuing to innovate and work hard to adapt to the new measures. Here at The Frome Independent, we have moved our events online, hosting our virtual markets over on our Instagram stories, and compiling a trader directory on our website. It has been fantastic to hear that customers are still able to connect virtually with traders in this way, but we all know that online markets aren’t a patch on the real, live events. We are counting down the days until live events get the green light, whenever that might be. In the meantime, we are going to spend the festive shopping season promoting and championing independent makers, producers and small businesses, and signposting you towards as many as possible.

Frome’s thriving independent retail community has been put under immense pressure over the past nine months, but it has been inspirational to see how so many businesses have adapted and evolved to a life online. Lots of traders already had a great online presence; seeing this community continue to support each other online has been a ray of hope. Now more than ever is the time to show your love and support for this talented and tenacious bunch, that make our events so special. If you’re finding more time on your hands due to the latest lockdown measures, we would highly recommend taking some time to browse the internet to check some of them out. Our Market Directory is a great place to start, as is our Instagram feed, where we’ll be posting about our traders and Frome shopkeepers over the coming weeks.