28th December 2025.

Opening Reflection

As 2025 draws to a close, I’ve been thinking less about what we achieved and more about what the year revealed. Retail has a brutal way of holding up a mirror. It doesn’t flatter. It doesn’t lie. It simply shows you how the world is behaving — often before anyone else notices.

This year wasn’t defined by one big moment. It was shaped by small observations, quiet shifts in customer behaviour, and the constant tension between optimism and caution. If I had to sum it up in one sentence, it would be this:

2025 was the year uncertainty stopped being an occasional visitor and became a permanent companion.

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Price Checking in the Aisles: A Warning Sign

One trend I’ve started to notice more and more is customers standing in the shop checking prices on their phones. I understand it for big-ticket items. I even understand it when people are comparing supermarkets.

What worries me is seeing it happen with everyday groceries — and seeing it happen with us.

We cannot compete with supermarkets on price. That battle was lost years ago. The only way independents survive is by offering products you can’t buy elsewhere, quality you can taste, and service that makes people feel seen.

But that strategy carries its own risk. Become too specialist and you alienate customers. Go too mainstream and you lose your reason for existing. Walking that line — every single day — is one of the hardest balancing acts in independent retail.

There is no perfect answer. Only constant adjustment.

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Customer Service Is the Lifeblood

If 2025 reinforced anything, it’s this: customer service is everything.

When customers are cautious, nervous, and price-aware, the experience becomes the differentiator. People forgive higher prices when they feel valued. They don’t forgive indifference.

I’ve learned (again) that service isn’t about scripts or policies — it’s about attitude, awareness, and presence. The smallest interactions often carry the most weight.

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Lessons From Behavioural Science

One of the thinkers I’ve enjoyed listening to this year is behavioural scientist Rory Sutherland. He has a way of explaining human behaviour that makes you rethink what you thought you knew.

One idea that stuck with me is this: always keep tables and chairs outside, no matter the weather. They signal that you’re open, alive, and welcoming — even if no one is sitting at them.

But behavioural insights cut both ways. A well-kept, beautiful space also signals “expensive”. I now understand why customers are often surprised when they see our prices. You can’t win both ways. The very thing that signals quality also signals cost.

Retail is full of these contradictions.

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The Phrase That Still Makes Me Angry

There is one phrase that still triggers me more than any other:

“That can’t be done.”

I’m amazed how deeply that mindset is ingrained in so many people. It’s as if saying something can’t be done gives them permission to stop thinking. To stop trying. To fail quietly.

Failure, in my experience, is the greatest teacher there is. I would rather try something and fail than predict failure and do nothing. Progress only comes from motion — not from caution disguised as wisdom.

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Making a Friend of Uncertainty

Most people spend their lives chasing certainty. A stable job. A predictable future. A guaranteed outcome.

But certainty is an illusion.

The only thing that is truly certain in life is uncertainty. Once you accept that, something shifts. Instead of fighting it, you work with it. You build resilience. You develop faith — not that things will go your way, but that you will find a way, whatever happens.

2025 reminded me that making a friend of uncertainty isn’t weakness. It’s survival.

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Staff, Leadership and Letting Go

Finding great staff remains one of the hardest challenges in business. I’ve touched on this before, but it deserves repeating: great people are rare, and they change everything.

I want to give a genuine shout-out to Bhanu, one of our managers. This year he demonstrated what good management really looks like: adaptability, calm under pressure, and an ability to act rather than over-explain.

I’ll be honest — people management isn’t my strongest skill. I don’t have much patience for endless explanations of why something happened. I value action over discussion. Too often I see people talking instead of doing.

That said, 2025 has taught me the importance of trusting those who can do what I don’t enjoy. A business only grows when leadership evolves.

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What 2025 Ultimately Taught Me

This year wasn’t about expansion or celebration. It was about observation, learning, and recalibration.

I learned that:

• Customers are more anxious than ever
• Price sensitivity is creeping into places it never used to
• Behaviour matters more than branding
• Certainty is a myth
• Great people are worth everything
• And trying beats predicting failure every time

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Closing Reflection

2025 wasn’t easy. But it was honest. It stripped away illusions and forced clarity. And clarity, even when uncomfortable, is a gift.

I end the year with no grand claims — just a deeper understanding of what it takes to survive, adapt, and keep building when the ground won’t sit still.

Still learning.

Still questioning.

Still moving forward.

Onwards into 2026.