Minimalist stores selling overpriced items just don’t do the trick any more, says John Ryan in Montreal, where indies are struggling.

Anr flagship site 3x2

Anr flagship site 3x2

Atelier New Regime in Montreal

Walking around some of Montreal’s groovier areas last week, one thing was apparent: many independent stores were in trouble. It gets chilly in this part of Canada in winter (-20C and below), but at the time of writing it was around the 30C mark. Downtown, the big chains were full of furs and heavy winterwear and, unlike the UK, they have a climate that demands this kind of thing. People buy ahead of the big freeze.

Meanwhile, the indies were full of summer, presented in the kind of minimalist store environments that have you inspecting your wallet. One of these had just six styles of training shoe and about as many T-shirts, and came complete with the usual truculent, grungily dressed youth staring at something on his Macbook. It was hard not to feel blessed that he acknowledged me as I walked though the door, and he really wasn’t bothered when I left without buying anything – I just wasn’t cool enough.

There were heavy discounts on all of the indies’ stock – meaning that in spite of the extremely warm weather, ranges had not been cleared and that it could well be too late. Perhaps they might have learnt a thing or two from the chains in the city centre – from Zara to La Senza – all of which had correctly sensed that summer’s lease was drawing to a close and that it might be time to get ‘clean’.

Less isn’t more

All this and DIY recycled wood interiors where everything, except the merchandise, looks as if it were done on the cheap meant that indy shopping was every bit as predicable as some of the high-street stalwarts about which they tend to be so sniffy.

”Because they are independent, we are supposed to imagine they are better than their rivals on the high streets and in shopping centres. In many cases they are not”

Now forget Montreal and consider the UK. There are areas in most of our big cities that are still dominated by independents and somehow, because they are independent, we are supposed to imagine that they are better than their rivals on the high streets and in shopping centres. In many cases they are not and, equally, their arrogance combined with poor service means that they don’t deliver.

Independents in the UK are fond of complaining about how bad things are, whatever the prevailing economic climate. Sometimes they could do worse than take a leaf out of the chain store book and offer more than some pared-down, overpriced minimalism.