Are high streets closing for business? Not on our watch, say traders

Are you a super-organised festive shopper with presents wrapped and ready in November, or will you be searching for gifts at 8pm on Christmas Eve? If the former rings true, you might opt to buy online, where there are endless options for even the most picky relative and free returns are largely standard.

While convenient, the growth of online shopping is one of the factors contributing to the closure of high street shops. According to a survey by accountancy firm PwC, there was a net closure of 987 stores in 2014 (5,839 shops shut down and 4,852 opened) compared with 371 in 2013.

However, there is reason to feel positive – across the UK there are pockets where independent high street businesses are thriving and remain a favourite with locals and tourists alike. Successful initiatives including Small Business Saturday and the Great British High Streets Awards, run by the Future High Streets Forum, also support small businesses on the high street.

In the runup to Small Business Saturday on 5 December, a Small Business Saturday bus is touring towns and cities across the UK. On Tuesday 24 November it stops in Winchester. Catherine Turness, executive director of Winchester Business Improvement District (BID), says the visit will include 12 free advice sessions on the bus, many hosted by local businesses and covering topics from how to write effective website copy to a school for social entrepreneurs.

She says there are several business networks in the area. “Independent businesses here have their own [community] groups by area, including The Square and Kingsgate. They get together once month.”

Kingsgate Wines and Provisions, which has been in the city for 20 years, is in the Kingsgate community group. Shop manager Tim Pride says: “It’s a tight-knit group of businesses and we organise things together.” The group’s Christmas tree lights are going to be switched on soon, and the nearby church and other businesses are getting involved, with carol singing and mulled wine on offer to shoppers.

The Christmas market by Winchester Cathedral, one of city’s main tourist attractions, will run from 19 November to 22 December this year and will offer shoppers the chance to buy from small businesses.

Café Monde, located in the Square, has been in Winchester for 13 years and takes part in regular community meetings with about 20 other businesses in the area. Holly Richardson, cafe supervisor and daughter of owner Phil Simmonds, says businesses in the Square help each other out, borrowing equipment from each other, for example. Café Monde even takes food orders to customers at the nearby hairdresser. “We’re a small family-run business and we pride ourselves on friendly service,” says Richardson.

The city has become busier in the past few years, according to Richardson, helped by events such as the Christmas market and the Hat Fair, an annual and longstanding celebration of theatre, dance and circus skills.

Small Business Saturday profiles 100 small businesses across the country in the runup to the event. This includes businesses in Glasgow, which has a range of independent shops and boutiques. Among those in the Small Biz 100 are Glasgow-based Locavore and Rup & Forn’s Love Letters.

Wear Eponymous, a clothing boutique and online store in Glasgow, is looking forward to 5 December. Elaine Burns, creative director and co-founder of the store, says: “We love Small Business Saturday and have just signed up with Love From Indie Street, a great initiative encouraging high street shoppers to think outside the usual chain stores.”

Burns says there’s a good business community in the city. “Even if a company could be considered a competitor we tend to stick together and help each other out – be it with useful contacts, social media support or chatting at business events.”

Jim Duffy, CEO of business accelerator Entrepreneurial Spark, which has a base in Glasgow, says: “Over the past few years we’ve seen an increase in small businesses emerging, alongside a growing consumer trend to shop local or shop independent.” He adds that independent business should work together “to make sure that they know what the customer wants and offer the customer a different experience to that of a chain store”.

Sandy McClean, owner and manager of vinyl store Love Music, which has been trading in Glasgow since 1996, says: “It tends to be people [from other businesses] on your doorstep that support one another.”

He adds: “We’ve noticed that we have a smaller amount of customers [than a big retailer] but for each we have a bigger sale. So we might not get a customer for an hour, then someone comes in and buys three records.”

Duffy says a number of initiatives are available to small businesses in the city, including Entrepreneurial Spark, the Glasgow New Business Fund, which offers businesses part funding for their premises over a four-year period, the West of Scotland Loan Fund, Business Gateway and Scottish Enterprise.

In Leeds, Entrepreneurial Spark and NatWest are backing a six-month accelerator programme in the city, which is offering support and mentors to 75 businesses.

Rachel Hannan, an angel investor based in Leeds, says: “I see an increasing appetite to back small businesses. It’s also positive that there is an increasing range of places to go for funding, although it can be difficult for small businesses to navigate them all.”

She adds that shopping in Leeds has been revitalised recently. The opening of Trinity Shopping Centre in March 2013 pulled together a number of tired arcades.

Claire Riley, co-founder of Our Handmade Collective, a gift shop based in The Grand Arcade in Leeds, says there is a good sense of camaraderie among independent business owners. “We’re all working towards the same goal, to make a living from something we love, and this gives us a passion which (in my opinion) isn’t often found within bigger businesses. Most of us realise that a lot of little voices together shout louder than one large voice.”

She adds that there are support networks for local business owners to become part of, such as Independent Leeds, Leeds Love Affair and Leeds Living.

Meanwhile, in the north of the city, Harriet Vaight, proprietor of design shop Chirpy, says: “Independents in the suburbs of Leeds are thriving ... The city centre is a slightly different story – with higher rents, some independents have struggled. But there are still a lot of high quality independent shops with a strong fan base.”

On Small Business Saturday, Chirpy will be giving away prizes in a lucky dip as well as holding a prize draw for a £100 shopping spree in the store.

But the day is just part of wider encouragement in the city for small businesses. Vaight says: “Since we all know and understand the challenges that we face as an independent business, we do our best to advocate each other as best we can.”

Sign up to become a member of the Guardian Small Business Network here for more advice, insight and best practice direct to your inbox.