Cambridge feels the downturn

A quick stroll around the environs of Market Square, a setting that I have known and loved for over a quarter of a century, illustrates the changing face of the high street as the recession deepens. The Vodafone store where I bought my Blackberry last year has gone. Cambridge University Press, having announced a large number of redundancies, has opened a store where hard back academic books can be taken away for less than £2 each (max 20 books per customer!).

Ringtons the specialist tea maker and distributor which opened up a new store on a fashionable high street has disappeared in less than a year. There are plenty of other stores plastered with closing down signs and posters advertising deep discounts of seventy per cent or more.

But a ray of hope among the gloom…....

The market stall selling ostrich meat was doing a roaring trade when I visited it on Sunday morning. Bisbrooke Ostrich Farm is based in Rutland, Leicestershire and from what I could tell at the weekend, their ostrich burgers at a very reasonable £2.50 are proving quite a hit! Their continued success contrasts starkly with the sad closure of the Rington’s retail store (I admit that I have a love of fresh tea leaves and was a little distressed to find the store had gone!) where the rental costs will be sigificantly higher than a pitch within a busy and bustling market place.

Farmers’ Markets became in vogue a few years ago and I wonder if they have passed the peak of their popularity? Will the recession lead to a stampede towards the heavy discounts on meat products offered by the supermarket giants?

Unit 4 Macro: Money, Debt and the New World Order [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Economics of Fiscal Deficit Reduction [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Factors Driving Business Investment [10 Jan 2012]
2012 - Carnage on the High Street [28 Dec 2011]
2011 in Review - The US Economy [27 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: The UK Housing Market in 2011 [26 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: The Rise in Self Employment [17 Dec 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Does UK Manufacturing have a Future? [30 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Tacit Collusion in the Supermarket [27 Nov 2011]
Where is the UK Economy? National Output [22 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Video Clips on Unemployment [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Impulses to Change Management Models [5 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Positive and Negative Multiplier Effects [14 Oct 2011]
UK Unemployment in October 2011 [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Unit Labour Costs and Inflation [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: UK suffers a weak recovery [12 Oct 2011]
Why Is Macroeconomics Such A Mess? [11 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Contestable Markets - Lucozade takes on Coca Cola [10 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Greek Economy at Default’s Door [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: IMF Flags up Risks of Double Dip [20 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Income and Wealth in the UK [12 Sep 2011]
UK Macro: Risks of a Double Dip Recession [12 Sep 2011]
Mixing with the Nobel Economists [4 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: GDP per person since the credit crunch [19 Aug 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Cotton Prices and the Retail Price of Clothing [13 Jul 2011]
What might happen on August 2nd? [12 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Reducing Unemployment after a Recession [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
AQA ECON4 Context [20 Jun 2011]
A2 Macro: Consumer Spending [30 May 2011]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [25 May 2011]
AQA Macro: Remember to revise inflation [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Trend Growth [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Economic Recovery [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Recession [23 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: The Output Gap [23 May 2011]
Revision notes on unemployment [22 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly and Collusion [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro:  Monopsony Power in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Business Growth [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation and Economic Policies [18 May 2011]
UK Economy Update: What Mervyn Said [11 May 2011]
Interest Rates Held at 0.5% once again [5 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation in Markets [4 May 2011]
AS and A2 Macro Revision: Keynesian Economics [28 Apr 2011]
A2 Micro: EU Aviation - State Aid and State Ownership [28 Apr 2011]
A2 Macro: Back to Roubini - a Year On! [11 Apr 2011]
AS Micro: Prices for New and Second Hand Cars [9 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Double-Dip Recession [8 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Under-employment [7 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Fiscal Austerity [6 Apr 2011]
Focus on Poland [5 Apr 2011]
Tracking the effects of the recession on GDP [5 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Expansionary Monetary Policy [4 Apr 2011]
Timetric: Unemployment in the US Economy [1 Apr 2011]
The Scale of Remittances [1 Apr 2011]
The New North - Population Shift [23 Mar 2011]
AS Macro Revision: Investment Spending [12 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Part Time Working in the UK [11 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Total Employment in the UK Economy [10 Mar 2011]
Ireland - Mass Unemployment and Shrinking GDP [10 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Income Tax and VAT Revenues [8 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Research and Development in the UK [7 Mar 2011]
A virtuous circle of recovery - Paul Krugman [6 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Regional Unemployment in the UK [4 Mar 2011]
EU Economics: Germany leads Euro Zone revival [25 Feb 2011]
EU Economics - Life at the jagged edge of the Euro Zone [20 Feb 2011]
Never Mind Plan B - Plan V needed for the UK Economy! [17 Feb 2011]
David Smith on Shifting Sands in the Global Economy [8 Feb 2011]
EU Economics: Hopes for a low carbon future in Europe [3 Feb 2011]
Tracking Commodity Prices - Free Chart Download [26 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Will the rise in VAT harm the UK’s economic performance? [17 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: How might rising food prices affect food retailers and manufacturers in the UK? [16 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: What economic factors affect the demand for new cars? [9 Jan 2011]
HMV - another busted flush on the High Street [6 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Will the Government spending cuts affect inflation? [3 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Why might Europe’s weaker economies struggle to grow in the next few years? [2 Jan 2011]
Revision: Consequences of Unemployment [1 Jan 2011]
A2 Macro Revision: The Stock Cycle [31 Dec 2010]
Keynes spotted in London [29 Dec 2010]
EU Economics: EU Economy in Charts Jan 2011 [29 Dec 2010]
EU Economics: Estonia joins the Euro [27 Dec 2010]
EU Economics: European Fiscal Austerity Measures [24 Dec 2010]
Pricing tricks and behavioural economics [12 Dec 2010]
An amusing introduction to the recession [1 Dec 2010]
Using Google Docs - The Irish Financial Crisis [29 Nov 2010]
Cashing in on pricing errors? [27 Nov 2010]
Growth and Strategy at Domino’s Pizza [27 Nov 2010]
Why is the UK helping Ireland? [22 Nov 2010]
After the recession: thoughts on the growth potential of the United Kingdom [15 Nov 2010]
Extend and Enrich with EconoMax [29 Oct 2010]
The Acid Burns Through - Requiem for Neo Liberalism [28 Oct 2010]
Predicting recessions - a mugs game [27 Oct 2010]
Substitute goods, scarcity & the recession - Toshiba’s OLED TVs [4 Oct 2010]
Recovery at any cost? [30 Sep 2010]
Irish economy sinks deeper into recession [26 Sep 2010]

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