Mystery Shopper

‘We got a very good write up’ says Ringwood Town Mayor, Cllr Danny Cracknell, following the presentation by Retail Skills Partnership of an overview of the Mystery Shopper audit in Ringwood last week. 

Its just a shame that so few independent retailers came to the presentation to hear about ways that the European Social Fund would provide support to put those independent retailers on the same level playing field as the larger national organisations.  

The retailers who were mystery shopped came out very well. 

Yes there were one or two wrinkles, particularly on disabled access to shops - but that must be expected in an old market town such as Ringwood, the signage into the town was not as good as it could be but importantly the retailers were friendly and not pushy. 

Retail Skills Partnership did not reveal the names of retailers ‘shopped’.

However, after the presentation Lorraine Tarrant of Tarrant Antiques and Angela Cork of Ringwood Fabrics freely admitted they were shopped and were delighted with the high praise each had received in their individual reports. 

Lorraine Tarrant commented afterwards that ‘shops in the town need a boost and its good to see that the Town Council has brought additional resources into the town to give us small retailers a lift. 

I shall certainly be looking further at the additional benefits which I can obtain for my business which ultimately will enable me to provide a better service for the people of Ringwood.’ 

Angela Cork of Ringwood Fabrics echoed those sentiments and added ‘as a small business in a market where major national players operate I must look at every opportunity and thanks to the successful bid for European Social Funds, I will now have access to the same type of professional support as national retailers. 

I find it hard to believe that other small independent retailers in the town are not fighting for this same support.’