Do Your Bit: Small Business Saturday 7th December

In recent years, the British high street has been slaughtered by the ongoing recession, we've lost an array of British manufacturers from Woolworths to Republic, the Great British high street is soon becoming a thing of the past with consumers looking to spend more on luxury goods, luxury and economy (Primark etc) are two of the most successful markets at the moment. 

Small, independent, local business are also being hit hard, which is why American Express came up with the 'Small Business Saturday' initiative which has now made its way over the pond to the UK. It basically encourages the public to, just for the one day, support their local stores and shun the massive chain supermarkets and restaurants. The idea started three years ago in the US to help small firms survive competitions from mainstream rivals, it boosted the turnover of small business by £3.5 billion.

It only makes sense that this idea would work wonders in the UK, MP Chuka Umunna agreed and so decided to start one up over here. The initiative has been supported by a host of high profile names such as Dragons Den's James Caan, Mary Portas and Made in Chelsea's Proudlock.
December 7th will be 'Small Business Saturday', so make sure to support your local butcher, restaurant, corner shop or vintage store next Saturday!

Nicole Farhi Saved From Administration by Maxine Hargreaves-Adams

It seems the norm these days that whenever there is news of the Great British High Street it is inevitably bad. The economic downturn and the need to save or look for cheaper alternatives has seen a great deal of once great stores going in to administration. 
Some brands are flourishing whilst others barely struggling to survive on the high streets of Britian, most luxury brands have managed to stay afloat but with Nicole Farhi filing for administration is this a sign of things to come for luxury brands?
Nicole Farhi has been around for just under 20 years and has six stores and nine concessions in high end department store such as Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, so how did they loose their consumers?
When you see that George and Galen Weston owners of Primark are the highest earners in the retail industry it seems that many consumers are now perferring to save and buy from discount stores such as Primark intead of splurging on luxury items from brands such as Farhi. The influx of designer copy cats finding their ways on to the shelves of Zara and Topshop have significantly helped these high street brands but has had the opposite effect on the initial designers. If this method means the death of the label who created the designs, where will the high street find its inspirtation then?
However with the news of a huge Dior store opening on Conduit Street and two new Chanel stores opened in recent weeks, the internationally renowned luxury brands seem to be coping. 
It has just been announced that Nicole Farhi has been saved from administration by Maxine Hargreaves-Adams (the daughter of the Matalan owner), who has bought out the brand and saved around 140 jobs. 

It was a lucky escape for Nicole Farhi, it would of been sad to loose a classic and loved British brand as there doesn't seem to be many left. However is this a sign to come? Will more luxury labels soon have to leave our Great British High Street thanks to high street chains such as Primark? Hopefully luxury brands can pull through this difficult time and young designers looking to break out in to the industry will not loose hope at this recent news. Only time will tell. Businesswoman Maxine Hargreaves-Adams has saved British label Nicole Farhi