South Yorkshire Times, May 9th, 1970
How Goldthorpe Beats the Competition of the Bigger Towns
How does a small township, located between the trading magnets of Barnsley and Doncaster and within easy reach of the “bright lights” of Sheffield, compete as a shopping centre with its prosperous neighbours? This is a problem that traders in Goldthorpe have had to face up to in recent years. As the pull of the larger towns has increased, with large stores introducing numerous features and gimmicks to draw in shoppers from the surrounding districts. Traders in small towns have had to widen their range of products and try to complete by offering top class service.
Although its scope as a shopping centre is obviously limited, Goldthorpe, at the centre of the 27,000 strong Dearne area, has an important role to play and with progressive thinking by the shopkeepers, who are providing amenities comparable to those of the larger shopping centres, this role is becoming more and more obvious.
Why struggle through packed crowds with overloaded shopping bags and trail miles to the large towns, when you can obtain virtually the same products at comparable prices almost on your doorstep? Goldthorpe shopkeepers are convinced they can provide amenities which compare favourably with those in larger towns and at the same time maintain the personal touch which is being lost with the advent of the big stores.
So convinced are they, in fact, that they are to back up their claim with a “Shopping Fortnight”, during which they hope to show people the advantages of shopping locally.
There will be a simple competition, with no complicated instructions to read or difficult puzzles to work out. It will merely be a case of counting up the number of balloons which hang in the windows at shops in Goldthorpe during the “Shopping Fortnight,” which starts today (Friday).
An entry form appears in this edition and local traders will be giving over 40 prizes for the competition. Winners will receive their prizes at a special buffet to be arranged later and results will be published in the “South Yorkshire Times”.
As well as looking out for the balloons and prizes, which will be on show in shop windows, shoppers should also keep an eye out for the many special offers which local traders are planning during the event. Some will be offering gifts with purchases and others will give discounts.
A further attraction, bound to raise an eye-brow or two, will be the mini-skirted “parking maids”, who will be on hand on Saturdays to guide motorists to the most convenient car parks in the shopping centre.
Four local teenage girls have agreed to take on the job and they will be handing out free car-wash vouchers to motorists who can answer a simple question on the Highway Code.
Indeed, every effort has been made to ensure that people coming into the town by car to do their shopping will be able to find a parking space conveniently situated for the shops.
There are in fact six car parks near the central area of the town and a recent traffic survey showed that there are sufficient parking spaces to cope with traffic at the busiest period. There are some 320 spaces near the shopping centre and the maximum recorded number of cars parked at any time in the area is 200.
Council-owned car parks are situated in Queen Street (room for 44 cars), off Barnsley Road (25 cars), Central Library (14 cars), Whitworth Street (26 cars) Market Place (32 cars)and there is also a private ly owned car parking in the area.
Other parking spaces are available in certain streets and plans are underway for the construction of a parking area for lorries in the central area, which should help to ease the burden on other parking spaces.
The Shopping Fortnight, the first shopping fair that the town has had for many years, is being organised by the recently re-formed Chamber of Trade, in the hope of showing both shoppers and traders the potential of Goldthorpe as a shopping centre.
Chamber of Trade secretary, Mr. Harry Crosby, said they wanted to get traders interested in the Chamber and shoppers interested in Goldthorpe and show both just what the town has to offer.
“It is quite some time since we had an event of this kind in Goldthorpe and the town, particularly the shopping centre, has seen a good deal of change in recent years,” said Mr. Crosby.
“Eight or ten years ago there was not such a wide variety of shops as there is now but a lot of new traders have moved into the area bringing a new lease of life and much bigger choice for the customers.
“Now the town copares favourably with much larger towns in both choice of goodsand competitive pricesm but it still retains the personal service and after-service one normally associates with the smaller shopping vcentre, as most of the shops are privately owned,” he added.
The Chamber certainly seem to have “gont to town” this time to show local people that Goldthorpe has a lt to offer as a shopping centre and can stand comparison with towns of equal if not greater size.
Shopkeepers are convinced that once the Goldthorpe shopper has seen what the town ship has to offer they will feel less inclined to go further afield on their weekly shopping excursion in search of bargains.
The shopping precinct is centred on the main road and the particularly wide pavement makes shopping more comfortable as well as much safer than in many similarly sized towns.
The shops offer as wide a range of goods as any centre in Yorkshire of comparable size and they are, for the most part, attractive, spacious and well laid out.
As Mr. Crosby pointed out man new faces have appeared in the shops over the past few years while several well-established traders have either retired or left the district, but despite the changes the shops themselves and the high standard of service have changed little.
It is perhaps this reluctance to change, except where there is obvious improvement to be gained, that has led to the trading community in Goldthorpe maintaining such a good reputation locally. Over the years Goldthorpe traders have won their custom by unflagging reliability, often maintained during difficult times in the area.
The regular shopper knows full well that if a shop offers certain goods, it can be relied on to provide a complete range of after services which one would expect to go with them.
The friendliness of the traders, like that of the local people generally, is almost taken for granted in tis part of the world. Traders think big in the way one would expect in a large town but trading is still on a scale that allows personal contact between shopper and shopkeeper and there is usually time for a friendly chat.
In short, Goldthorpe shopkeepers are aiming to please and will welcome the chance to show just what they have to offer. The town is better equipped than ever before for this, with a wider range of commodities and an increased number of shops. Recent developments and the influx of new traders have shown that they do not intend to stop here.
With the Chamber of Trade active again after a lapse of two years, the Shopping Fortnight is perhaps only an indication of things to come at Goldthorpe. Local shopkeepers are out, to win new customer and they intend to earn it.