UK Travel Guide - The Shopping Experience in Falkirk

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4th June 2009 - by Toby Smith

The Shopping Experience in Falkirk

Falkirk is roughly positioned half way between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland's two principal cities. With the excellent transport infrastructure, access to either of these cities is convenient where one has the choice of taking their own transport using the motorway network or the hassle free train system where the schedules are almost half hourly. Falkirk, therefore, has rigorous competition.

As a "casual" and most of the time reluctant shopper, even I have noticed that both Falkirk town centre and the central Retail Park remain vibrant. Buoyant even and this is despite the current economic downturn.

Both the High Street and the Retail Park share the usual “High Street” names that adorn every shopping area in any town in the United Kingdom. Refreshingly, there is a good mix of local business’s that promote their various wares to the passing public.

Also, like any other town, we are “super marketed” out with the usual fare of the Asda’s, the Morrison’s, the Tesco’s etc. all competing against each other and each promising lower basket prices than their opposition. However, there is respite from all this where, for four days a week, the Falkirk Market is held on the outskirts of the town. Here, we can buy fresh and invariably locally sourced fruit, vegetables and meat - often at a fraction of the price of the so called super markets.

Throughout the year, there are Sunday Farmer’s markets and French traders, literally from France, come across and offer a wide selection of meats, breads cheeses and the like.

That is the “Bread on the table” over, but what of the specialists? A selection of locally owned music shops, tattoo parlours, cycle shops (my main reason going into town!) and many other shops too many too mention here!

Basic observations as a “casual” are that Falkirk is swamped by hairdressers, nail salons and the like. They all appear to be prospering yet I cannot imagine, with all of the competition on their respective doorsteps, how do they survive? Are they surviving or are they limping through this recession dependent on their overdraft facilities?

Another being that as en ex climber I still retain a healthy interest in photography and this is something that Falkirk cannot accommodate. Are we all content with the typical offerings from the Argos’s, Comet’s etc of this world (including Falkirk!) but what of the more specialist equipment like filters, lens hoods….on and on and on! Or was it for the fact that the only camera shop in Falkirk that closed some 2 plus years ago could not compete with the internet and the mighty eBay? Regrettably so, as we all live in the digital age…therefore, we all use digital cameras and…in this digital world we do have the World Wide Web.

On a personal note, I still use 35mm film for “black and white” mountain photography and I am left to buying my film stock by mail order as it is no longer available locally. My own dSLR is an incredible bit of equipment yet the fact that a 35mm SLR camera is more robust than any dSLR, that the many local professional photographers still use analogue cameras for the high quality - one would have thought that there would still be a demand for such a store?

Will there be any shops left in Falkirk or even any other conurbation in the future when we can all “browse” what we want to buy in total Virtual Reality which satisfies all of the senses?