Shopping survey results to be presented

Reepham residents and businesses will have an opportunity to view the results of last May’s Shopping Survey, which revealed some interesting facts about the way people shop in the town.
 

 
A pop-in event will be held at the Bircham Centre on Saturday 21 March from 10 am to 12 noon, during which time members of Reepham Chamber of Commerce will be on hand to talk about the information gleaned from the survey. There will be displays of charts and graphs illustrating the responses.
 
The responses about parking in Reepham were reported in the December/January edition of Reepham Life: although more than 70% of respondents said they sometimes have problems parking, only 10% reported that parking was difficult. This, coupled with the Town Council’s own observations, was a factor in the recent decision by the Council to take no further action on parking at the present time.
 
Other areas of focus for the shopping survey included opening hours for shops, frequency and duration of visits, and the use of online shopping.
 
At a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting it was noted that the survey had taken place both before the work on the Dial House and the Original Cottage Company’s move to Bank House. Members agreed it would be interesting to run the survey again in the near future, so that the impact these two significant developments have had on Reepham’s shopping habits could be measured.
 
The survey was completed by 324 adults, many of whom were in the over-65 age bracket. Reepham Chamber’s chairman, Brenda Gostling, would have liked to have seen responses from more of Reepham’s working-age population.
 
“Sadly, there are still many people who seem to be unaware of what can be found in our wonderful shops,” she said. “The survey showed us that those who shop in Reepham do so not just because of the quality of the goods on offer, but also because of the warmth and friendliness of the service they receive.”
 
See our earlier news story:

 
 

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