Comment: Did retail let the rioters win?

BUSINESSES, and in particular retailers, have travelled to work this week to assess the consequences of two night’s of anarchy in Birmingham.
They were joined by their counterparts in Wolverhampton and West Bromwich after thugs and rioters turned their attention to the Black Country on Tuesday night.
Having enjoyed a pleasant stroll in the sun around Birmingham yesterday afternoon, I’m happy to report there were crowds aplenty and, but for the countless examples of plywood clamped to shop windows, it was hard to know anything was wrong.
What a contrast to 5pm on Tuesday when we left our Newhall Street offices to be greeted by a scene resembling the break of dawn on a Sunday morning.
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With the notable exception of the A38 heading out of Birmingham, all the roads were empty of cars while banks, shops, cafes and bars were closed.
It seemed the hoodlums had won. And what a shame.
I’m absolutely positive their motives on Monday, in the unlikely event they had any, were not to cause financial meltdown of the second city’s economy.
And I doubt they really wanted to frighten people. Or fight with the police. Or make a political point.
They just wanted to cause bother and nick stuff and, in closing early yesterday and Tuesday, retailers gave in and let them win.
There were cries from the chambers and the councils that it was “business as usual” – but with the Bullring closing early two days running – it clearly wasn’t.
But if the alternative – stay open, risk being in your premises when the looters come and be badly hurt or even killed – is so much worse, then what is business to do?
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