One in five shops could close by 2018!

I just cannot imagine empty cities, with only few real shops left. I cannot believe online shopping will replace actual shopping to this extend.

What's worse is that it's not just the local independent shops that are suffering - they have all but gone - it's the large high street retailers who are also being hit by the mega supermarkets.

The likes of Argos and Boots are leaving the town centres as well - which is bad for competition.

Tesco et al come into an area and simply hoover up all the trade - they are not interested in the local economy - with less than 10% of their turn over going back into the local area - mostly via the staff salaries.

Online shopping is having an impact - but with 97% of the UK food market being controlled by supermarkets - and 78% of that being with just 4 brands.

The supermarkets are stocking an ever increasing range of products at knockdown prices. Making themselves a one-stop shop for consumers.

Now at risk at inviting controversy, and please no racist slurs, but our local highstreet is following the trend of whitewashed windows, poundland shops, more charity shops etc.

Then today I had to head into the centre of Birmingham, so followed the usual route up the A34, taking me through Sparkhill and Sparkbrook, predominantly Asian areas, and the High Street looks no different than it did 5 or 10 years ago. The majority of shops are small independents, and the streets are jampacked with people and footfall. In otherwords business is booming.

So why is Sparkhill booming and Stratford is a ghost town? Why do Asian independent shops survive? Is it a culture thing? I know they are much more focused on family than white counterparts, and Asian friends talk about responsibility of helping out family members, and utilising skill sets within the family circle.

As the traditional UK highstreet is set to be transformed into housing, eateries and coffee houses, I wonder if there is something we can learn from Sparkhill and similar towns?

Yes, leave the car at home and shop locally, spend slightly more for fresh, healthy, quality food & ingredients that still taste like food used to (and stays fresh longer when stored in your cupboard) then cook tasty meals in old fashioned pots & pans, instead of driving to your local supermarket and buying cheap prepacked microwave rubbish that's been sourced from some dodgy unknown producers (or horse abattoir) before being frozen and shipped half way round the world.