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ABINGDON EDITION
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COME TO OUR TOWN CENTRE Road opens after a year
Council leader hopes for more local business
TOWN council leader Sandy Lovatt believes the footfall in Abingdon has improved but says he would like to see more people visiting local businesses. Initiatives such as two hours free parking on all town centre car parks have helped, while Abingdon Museum has exceeded its target of 30,000 visitors a year. The Narrows, Abingdon’s newest pub, is also said to be thriving, while the Crown and Thistle hotel has been revamped and is back open for business. “We wanted to bring people in to the town centre and along with a whole bunch of other measures we’re doing that,” said Cllr Lovatt. “What we’re not quite getting
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at the moment is people actually using the shops enough.” District councillors hoped a new scheme, installed in the town last year, would encourage shoppers back to the town’s retailers. A ByBox was installed next to Abingdon’s library last Christmas, providing shoppers with a facility to collect goods they have bought online. Cllr Lovatt recognises its benefits but feels it may not have had the desired impact. “It is a nice idea but I don’t know how effective it has been,” he said. “It is not a great measure and it has not been as effective as the free parking.” He added: “We’re bringing in the people.
“If you come into the town to pick something up from your ByBox they might want to do something else while they are here.” The ByBox provides consumers with a secure place to pick up goods they have purchased online. When shoppers order a product online they can pick it up from a locker where the item is stored securely. A text message is sent to the consumer’s phone with a security code which will open the locker on collection of the parcel. Stuart Miller, CEO of ByBox, said: “We feel strongly that the growth of online retail needn’t be at the expense of the smaller retailer. “This is all about encouraging online retail and High Street stores – the lifeblood of small towns – to work together in harmony.”
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By Jack Johnson