At the same time Tara Buckley, director general of RG Data, said: “The most difficult thing to do now is to run a small shop.” Since 1942, RG Data has been the representative body for Ireland’s independent retail grocery sector, and the organisation now includes more than 4,000 grocers.

RG Data statistics cover the range of independent shops, from ‘corner shops’ to convenience stores to supermarkets.

“The independent sector is still a very thriving sector,” Tara said. She said independent shops make up more than 40 percent of the Irish grocery market, compared to 16 percent in Northern Ireland and about 10 percent in the United Kingdom.

This doesn’t happen by accident. “There is a long list of things you need to have” to ensure people visit your shop, she said. Among them are handy items, such as mobile phone top-ups and Lotto tickets; specialty items, such as fresh food, deli and wine; and general grocery products.

Small ‘corner shops’ need “to be very nimble and very agile” in responding to what customers want, Tara said. “It’s a very competitive marketplace.” She said there are global pressures on grocery shops around the world but customers can still help their local shop move with the times.

“Tell your local shop if there is something you want them to stock that you’re prepared to buy,” she said.

There are also benefits to shopping local and shopping in smaller quantities that are not immediately apparent, she said. For example, she said, people who buy large quantities of food at one time often wind up buying more than they need, and throwing out food that is not consumed in time. When people go to a smaller shop they generally purchase fewer things. More trips with less items purchased per trip can lead to less waste, she said.

And there are other, less tangible benefits as well. At the RG Data 2007 summit, Professor Kevin Leyden, Ph.D., of West Virginia University, discussed his research of neighbourhoods around Galway City. Professor Leyden’s study showed that people who lived in walkable, mixed-use neighbourhoods – people who can walk to a local shop, for example – are more likely to know their neighbours, to participate politically, to trust others and to be socially engaged.

He connected his findings with the results of more than a dozen large studies that showed people who are socially disconnected are between two and five times more likely to die from all causes than people who have close ties to community, family and friends.

“If you can walk around your community and go and get your food, and meet other people, it creates a sense of community,” Tara said. And people who value the contributions that local shops make to a community can take steps to ensure those shops survive.

“You have to support it to ensure you have it into the future,” she said.