In Leicester is a really excellent Fairtrade shop called Just (their banner image reproduced here). Long gone is the hippy-image: good lighting and state of the art shelving coupled with a wide range of gifts, clothes and food makes it a place worth browsing. Being housed nextdoor to the former SPCK bookshop is a plus, allowing me to JUSTify (groan) visiting it quite often.
Yesterday I had a letter from them telling me that trade is down and their own future is less secure. In part this is because many of the major retailers have caught on to the commerical side of Fairtrade with M&S and Sainsbury's selling a lot of Traidcraft products, and all the supermarkets stocking a lot of Fairtrade goods. This they applaud, but point out the implications it has for them, the small, independent Fairtrade retailer who source their products far more widely then 'just' Traidcraft/Tearcraft. It made me think quite hard - as I've done in the past when preparing services for Fairtrade fortnight - about what really fair trade might look like. There aren't any easy answers - it seems important to buy the Fairtrade products in the big shops because the impact of them ceasing to sell them would be horrendous; at the same time, if we don't support local independents (whether the Fairtrade shop, pick-your-own fruit farm, butcher, baker or post office) they will disappear with massive consequences for people on our own doorsteps.
Tricky questions to ponder, and I don't know any good answers, but I might take up the invitation of the people at Just to have a Fairtrade party in the autumn...
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This is a really tricky one. Having had a Fair Trade stall after service on a Sunday morning for more years than I can remember, we actually closed it down at Christmas because most of what we were selling (tea, coffee, cookies, chocolate) was available (at about 25% to 30% less than we could source it for) in the Big Four supermarkets. Like you, we took the view that it would be better to encourage 'mainstream' stocking of these items than to try to preserve our niche role, and all our regular customers have transferred their ethical buying to the weekly shop instead (at least, that's what they tell us!). The big 'but' in all this, of course, is whether those good habits will continue in the face of rising food, fuel, housing costs, and whether the supermarkets themselves will continue to stock 'premium' items as the 'crunch' deepens. It's definitely a tricky one!
Whereabouts in Leicester? - and do they sell men's shirts? I'll be running the boy back there next week so might call in if it looks worth it.
Hi Craig, their website is www.justfairtrade.com (though it seems to be 'down' at the time of typing). They are in Bishop Street which is a nasty one way street in central Leicester. I'm not sure about men's shirts - I think ti would be wise to check before making a special journey into central Leicester.