Page 38 - MarketTimesOctober2015
P. 38

  Sam Theuma, a market trader for 30 years, manages Chichester market for Bray Associates
Frank Terry, a demonstrator since the 1970s, has worked on markets and at shows up and down the country. He says he much prefers markets on car parks because it attracts people who want to shop on the market
Ian Charles, a veteran trader who sells belts and bags, is keen to see the market move on to the High Street
         Ken Livermore's new business selling fantasy products is doing well on the market
 Sam manages the market for the private operator, Bray Associates. It’s not just a job for Sam. He is passionate about markets and is dismayed at the decline in markets and the lot of market traders.
“We need to do everything we can to promote and protect markets,” Sam said. “Markets are such a big part of our heritage. If we lose a market, it’s not just the market we lose — a part of our identity goes with it.”
Perhaps because he is not British-born, Sam has a huge sense of pride in British traditions that many of us take for granted.
“So many traditions and important parts of this country’s heritage have disappeared,” he said. “I hope we don’t get to the situation where we walk through a town with a grandchild and have to tell them that this was where there used to be a market, in the same
way as we are told about dinosaurs.”
In Sam’s opinion, the best way of safe-
guarding the future of Chichester market is moving it to the High Street, but not everyone agrees.
Chichester market has 35 traders and 75 pitches. On the best market days, Sam has to turn away casuals. And the traders are a solid bunch of professionals who understand that markets flourish because they offer the right products at the best price, with a friendly, personal service that the big brands and multiples cannot match.
But opinions are divided on the relocation option.
Heading the pro-relocation lobby is Ian Charles, who sells belts and bags on the market. Market trading is his lifeblood and he understands the challenges traders face but is
positive about the future of market trading. “I really believe that markets are the best
place to shop in terms of the stock we sell, the price and the service we give,” Ian said.
The biggest challenge to the markets industry is the internet, he believes, with people attracted by the ease of clicking on a keyboard to make a purchase.
The markets industry needs to sell the experience of market shopping, Ian says.
“But we definitely have to up our game and make our markets more attractive,” he said. “It’s about moving with the times.”
Traders provide their own stalls and Chichester market is a mishmash of dated stalls and gazebos.
Ian is certain that a move to the High Street would benefit everyone. “There are issues and some of the bigger stalls would have to accept
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