People who love Wedge Card obviously are great people themselves

We are very grateful to two very superb companies who supported our Shop Local Challenge last week in the East End. www.welovelocal.com have been active friends, counsel and champions since they launched earlier this year. They have spread the word about Wedge Card and helped us with our mission. We think you should all go and take a look at the great site they created which allows you to review your favourite local shops and find recommendations on ones you’d like to try. A genius idea (we wish we’d thought of it first).

Another super company who helped us in our efforts in the East was Sanctuary Hereward an organisation providing affordable housing and promoting community cohesion. Their support of Wedge Card shows how willing they are to extend their truly community focused work in recognition of how local shops are the lifeblood of our neighbourhoods. www.sanctuary-housing.co.uk/

Lastly we thank all of those people who rose to the challenge of Shop Local week and bought Wedge Cards, used their local shops, talked to us in the rain when we looked like drowned rats and signed up.

Viva independent shops everywhere!

Get the shopping experience you deserve

We know that life is busy/expensive/difficult/confusing. We know that there are so many things to think about and reasons the world is going to ruin (and it always seems to be our fault!). We don’t want to add to your burden, we want to lighten the load. We want shopping to be fun, good value, full of wondrous products - the kind of experience you deserve. In our journey through local shops we have discovered some real gems, enclaves of Indy brilliance and really sweet shopkeepers that will make your shopping experience just brill. And it is these that we want to share with you.

If you need further convincing just look at some of the independent experiences you could be having this Xmas with a Wedge Card:

Get that vintage style with a free wardrobe style makeover at Butterfly Girl in Brentford. (Plus 10% off over £85)
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420429

Walk your way to good health, hearty times and new experiences with the Ramblers association. (20% off membership)
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420487


Sauciness comes in good taste and welcoming surroundings at the sex shop Sh! in Hoxton Square. The staff are friendly and the women only door policy (men can only come with a woman) makes it even more so. (10% off, excluding books & tampons)
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420458

Cycle fanatics will impart wise words and good gear to you at Two Wheels Good in Stoke Newington. (10% off)
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420225

Have a drink at the neighbourly a real local pub The Three Kings in Farringdon.
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420112

Feeling stuffy/groggy/fluey or hung-over seems a prerequisite for Xmas. Your local pharmacy is the place to head. We’ve got 9 on Wedge:
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=tagged&tag=pharmacy

You could be boogying with the boogiest band on earth - The Earthlights Boogie Band (5% off).
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420347

You can start all of your New Year’s get-fit, get-healthy-, de-stress and generally loved up with your mind and body early at Breathe…Mind, Body, Spirit Studio in SE1. (10% off).
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420072

There. Job done!
www.wedgecard.co.uk

Wedge Card invades East End

Our wee Wedge is one year old.

In celebration we decided to bring everything we’ve learnt together in a week long Shop Local Challenge we hosted in Hackney last week. Our Wedge team took to the streets to entice people with cookies and stickers into talking our Shop Local challenge, because we have found that when people try their local shops more often than not they love them.

Here is what my mum said about her challenge:
‘I always go to Café Nero in Twickenham, It’s my routine and they have good coffee. I have to say I’m really anxious about getting a good coffee and have always been reluctant to try independent shops in case they weren’t good. But under the duress of the Shop Local Challenge I visited a little Italian café with my daughter and grandson in Twickenham lanes. The coffee was spectacular but the best thing was the Italian lady who ran it and one of her customers loved my grandson and played with him so my daughter and I could relax and chat. It was a really good find.’

We hope everyone who took the challenge found equally good gems.

Spice Girls and Tesco deserve each other!

Recently it was announced the Spice Girls advertising relationship with Tesco is to continue. I for one am very pleased. Who else but this vacuous pop group who are just in to make big bucks should represent well, the supermarket equivalent. Their first foray into popdom was quite revolting to me. The Spice Girls only seemed to promote a love of flashing their knickers, child-sized bottoms and shiny hair to our female youth (if you're going to do that please don't call it 'girl power', that's a joke).

So now I get to display our pop credentials: Jarvis Cocker, Sinead O'Connor and Suggs support us. Need we say more about how different our independent shops are?
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/news/article.php?storyid=108

Life gets better when you marry American

There was a time when anonymity was attractive to me. Perhaps it was because I was a very self conscious teen/twenty something. One of my favourite places to sit was the Starbucks attached to Sainsbury’s. Whilst sipping watery bitter coffee, surrounded by the glaring tungsten lights, I would relish the anonymity.

I was jarred into thinking, Perhaps There is Another Way when I acquired a friendly American (husband) who didn’t have the hang-ups I did, and would talk to everyone. The woman at the newsagent would tell him her marital woes, the kids in the house next door would high five him on his way to work, and the rude restaurateur would let him stroke his whiney little dogs on their morning walk. At first I was worried he was breaking such a strict moral code that some authority figure would apprehend him and explain the rules, only letting him go with a warning. This clearly reveals my disturbed mind (unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg).

I let the desire for friendliness to strangers bubble away inside of me until it burst out after a big life change. My son arrived and after a slew of visitors just when you don’t need them I was suddenly alone. There is not much you can do when you have a small baby, nothing that lasts more than about 5 minutes. But you can shop, talk and walk. So that’s what I did. I knew no one in my neighbourhood. But six months of thrice a day shopping and I was suddenly chatting to the butcher, shooting the breeze with our landlord and conversing with old ladies in the park. I even made some friends.

It was because my area was full of little shops, a park and lots of communal space that I was able to do this. It was with this feeling that I decided to do something to promote local shops. And hence Wedge Card was born. You can all say ahhhh now. And we all lived happy ever after.

Competition Commission - we need a more holistic approach

Last week I spent £65.50 on my shopping. I'm an extravagant shopper, but I like to have lots of goodies to eat in my house of 2 1/2 people. I went to 5 of my local shops. I bought some succulent mangoes, some vivid fragrant coriander and some organic, flavourful beef amongst other things. I know all of my shop keepers even though I've lived in my area for only 2 months. My son was cuddled and cooed over. Several sweets were offered. My newsagent told me about the ins and outs of running a marathon. I met a mother from our nursery.

It took me 40 minutes door to door and I didn't drive. I have done a similar shop at Waitrose (£95) and at Tesco (£78). Neither competes in terms of quality of fruit, veg, meat and fish in my eyes.

I am lucky. I have lots of local shops near me. I keep an eye on the prices and know which shops are better for which. People continue to flock to this area and the ready made community that these little shops create. My mother lives in an area with no local shops. Her nearest is a massive Tesco. She doesn't know anyone in her area (except her immediate neighbours). She has been there 15 years.

Having lots of local shops fosters a sense of community. We therefore have to look much closer at the role shops play. We can't thrown their role in the landscape of our lives off lightly. This report is short sighted. Let's look at the dominating role they play in our communities and take a more holistic approach.

Community - a dirty word?

We've been writing some new ads here at Wedge Card and in the hope that lots of people would like them we ask lots of people what they thought. 9/10 said 'Don't use the word community; it makes you sound reallllllly boring.' There is of course the chance we asked some really sub standard people (that wouldn't surprise us they were our friends and family members after all).

Part of me wanted to throw something at them when they showed revulsion for what I think is such an empowering and positive concept. What's so wrong with knowing your neighbours and feeling a sense of togetherness with the people around you? Are the only people who are good the ones you know and the rest dismissed merely because you don't know them? Or is the only acceptable form of community nowadays one that's virtual? I know I'm not cool, but that would be very sad.

I may have got this ass-upwards. Tell me, is community such a dirty word?

Anonymity breeds fear too

Yesterday I saw a little girl fall over in the playground. There were a few mums near her and they approached her cautiously. The girl was hysterical, but instead of picking her up and comforting her, the mums looked around for her mum. It wasn’t an uncaring reaction, just a symptom of our highly self conscious society. Lots of people don’t want to get involved with another child they don’t know. A few months ago I saw how their self consciousness might be justified when my husband was told off by a parent for picking up a child who had similarly fallen over and was hysterical. Perhaps it was because he was a man, or people are just more suspicious of men, I don't know.

As a parent this naturally pains me. The less you want to get involved with other people and their kids the less likely you’d get involved if something was really wrong. I want people to help out if my sons in trouble/hurt. I also don’t want to feel reluctant to help a child in trouble.

I feel it would be a different story if we all knew each other in the playground. This may be me being all sentimental because I’ve never lived anywhere where the community was that enclosed and familiar. What do we do if we want to chance this situation? My gut feeling is simply that anonymity breeds fear, so perhaps it’s as simple as saying hello to the other parents next time I’m down in the park.

Do Something!

Anita Roddick rocks our world

Last night I was privileged to attend the memorial service for Anita Roddick. It was an incredibly touching event that was not just a tribute to her but a chance to inspire those who attended into becoming more involved in activism. Anita’s mantra came out loud and clear - Do something. Do anything. Just do something.

I came away fired up, ready to attack this task ahead of me with joy and gusto. Starting any business is hard work. Starting a business like Wedge Card can feel daunting at times – there is no blue print, no dummies guide to ‘starting a loyalty card that will encourage people to shop locally, and energise communities in the process.’ We have buckets of enthusiasm and knowing visionaries like Anita who have gone ahead of us, and paved the way for ‘social businesses’ like ours, makes our task all the easier.

Not a day goes by when I don’t wake with a thrill in my stomach that we are trying, bit by bit, to make our communities more engaging, safer and vibrant places to live. And it is a direct result of Anita’s efforts that we, the Wedge Card team are here today. I urge you too then to do something.

“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito” Betty Reese
Visit www.iamanactivist.org to get engaged.

Funny things said to me in small shops (part 2)

Having a small child, a full time job, a spouse and all of those general trappings of grown up life, as well as the lines to prove it, I was delighted the other day of being accused of looking like a school girl. Well the accuser in question didn't expressly say I looked like a school girl, just that she had a vision of me in a school uniform. I like to think it was my luminous skin and cheeky grin that did it. Suffice to say, it was better than when a shop owner said I looked like I needed the toilet when I entered his shop.
My adventures in local shops continues.

Anonymity is the enemy of civility

Is this true?
Being around people we know, and who might judge our behaviour, makes us all behave a bit more decorously. Which is probably why London is renowned for its unfriendly and rude inhabitants. Londoners are constantly surrounded by thousands of people they don’t know. These humans quickly become obstacles to get past on your way to work, rather than people with ickle wickle fweelings and stuff. Cue groups on Facebook such as ‘I Secretly Want To Punch Slow Walking People In The Back Of The Head’ or ISWTPSWPITBOTH to long standing members (of which there are 390, 489). Our constant anonymity numbs our sensitivity to other human beings, and turns normally civil men and women into rude, granny-bargers

In rural English villages nobody considers eye contact an act of aggression, curses doddery old people, or shoves past small children to get on the bus. Why? Because in a village you are never anonymous. Vera might be curtain twitching, and if she is, then the whole village will know of your uncivil behaviour by tomorrow morning.

So, yes, it’s true. Anonymity is the enemy of civility. The solution? Duh - shopping locally, obviously!

Those still villagey areas of London are the ones filled with independent local shops. In these areas neighbours share sugar, Vera curtain twitches, shopkeepers know your name, and most importantly of all, people are civil.

I looked like I need the toilet, apparently

I walked into the crammed little café near my house and the man behind the counter said, 'Sorry, you can't use the toilet' . 'I wanted a coffee actually, thanks.' 'Oh', he said, and made me one. The desire for an apology hung in the air unfulfilled. The coffee was good, my husband outraged and I quietly amused.

When I started Wedge Card journalists everywhere threw the accusation at me that there were some terrible small shops out there – how were we going to guarantee quality? I said 'we can't.' There are some terrible drivers out there, but we don't stop cars. Small shops are as individual as their owners. There's no pre-ordained dialogue or shelves scientifically organised to get you to spend more. It's all a bit human, these little shops, that's why they rock.

Hey check us out, we're cute

Last week Diana, our founding mother, was invited to Number 11 to discuss entrepeneuriship. Read about it, and how cute we are, in the Telegraph here:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/business/yourbusiness/sept07/entrepreneurialentertainment.htm

A funny old thing, success

There is much screaming by newspapers and websites about the injustices reaped on areas of London made successful by small, independent shops only to be pulled out from underneath them and sold to big property developers. One of our own, The Spitz, is being forced to move this month to premises new because of redevelopment, even though it helped to create that hip, eclectic, fun mix that makes it a magnetic for all hip, eclectic, fun professionals who can afford it. It's the cyclical rutt of 'gentrification' us Londoners always seem to fall into.

My young (not hip at all) family have just been displaced from one now eye-wateringly expensive area to one less so. I expect our movement just helps to displace another family into another area, and so it goes on.

So it's us as individuals who suffer if we're unlucky enough to live in an area that is aiming higher than our demographic. And it's the people who make it a 'desirable' investment opportunity who have the most to lose, mainly local, independent shops.

We are all for success AND sustainable communities. So what are we going to do about it? Shout very loudly. And we want you to shout with us. If you want your area to stay unique - thriving, oddball, lovely, quiet, noisy, brash, calm, whatever turns you on – then you have to say so. And a good way to start is by making sure the local, independent shops you love know you love them – use them. If you don't use them you don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to asking those powers-that-be to keep your area unique. Act with them feet and that there wallet.

That's what we think, over to you.