[originaltext]Interviewer: Well Charles, I must say that your shop is pretty re

Interviewer: Well Charles, I must say that your shop is pretty remarkable. Um, it’s basically a sweetshop, but you also do stationery and greeting cards and tobacco and fireworks
Shopkeeper: And newspapers.
Interviewer: And newspapers. Ah. And apart from all that, you’ve got photocopiers...
Shopkeeper: That’s right.
Interviewer: And a fax machine.
Shopkeeper: Indeed.
Interviewer: Yes. How did. I mean, why the photocopiers?
Shopkeeper: Everything that’s happened in my shop has almost happened by accident. But when I got into Clifton, I needed a photocopy one day and no one could tell me where to go. So it struck me that if I didn’t know where to go, other people were in the same situation, so that’s why I started it. And then I added on a facsimile machine because it seemed like a natural progression at the time. And all sorts of people use it.
Interviewer: Yes, who, what sort of people do use it?
Shopkeeper: Um, a lot of professional people —surveyors, engineers — particularly people who need to send plans. Because in the past you could send messages via telex, but a telex can’t express a plan, whereas facsimile has that dimension, the added dimension.
Interviewer: Right. And do people send these fax messages abroad, or is it just to this country?
Shopkeeper: Well, it’s surprising because when I started, I thought I’d be sending things to London and maybe Birmingham but, in fact, a high percentage of it is sent abroad, because it’s immediate, it’s very speedy. You can send a message and get an answer back very quickly.
Interviewer: And how much would it cost, for example, if I wanted to send a fax to the United States?
Shopkeeper: Well, a fax to the United States would cost you five pounds for a page. And when you think that in England by the Royal Mail, it would cost you twelve pounds to send a page by special delivery, it’s actually a good value.
Interviewer: OK. What about your hours? How long do you have to spend actually in the shop?
Shopkeeper: Well, the shop is open from, essentially from eight in the morning until six at night, six days a week, and then a sort of fairly flexible morning on a Sunday. Um, and of those hours, I’m in it quite a lot.
Interviewer: And how long have you actually had the shop?
Shopkeeper: I started to have my shop in 1982, the 22nd of December, oh, sorry, the 22nd of November. It sticks in my brain.
Interviewer: And did you enjoy it?
Shopkeeper: Yes, overall I enjoy it. Running a business by yourself is jolly hard work and you never quite like every aspect all the time. 95% of the customers I love. Uh, 2% I really, you know, I’m not too bothered about. And 3% I positively hate.
Interviewer: What, What’s the problem with those? Are they people who stay around and talk to you when you’re busy or complain or what?
Shopkeeper: Um, it’s bard to categorize really. I find people who are just totally rude, urn, unnecessary, and I don’t really need their custom. And I suppose they form the volume of the people that I don’t like. But it’s a very, very, very small percentage.
Interviewer: But is there a danger that shops like yours will disappear, more and more?
Shopkeeper" I think there’s a very, very great danger that the majority of them will disappear.
Interviewer: Why’s that?
Shopkeeper: Simply because costs of running a shop have just become very, very high. To give you some example, in the time that I’ve been there, my rent has quadrupled, the local property tax have doubled, other costs have gone up proportionately. And at the end of the day it is a little bit hard to try to keep up with those costs. You can, certainly you can extend the volume of your sales but they don’t necessarily always catch up with the costs. But, having said that, I mean there will always be successful small shops, so I hope that I’m in that category.
Interviewer: Yes, and is there anything... do you think anything can be done to stop this trend?
Shopkeeper: Yes, change the government.
Interviewer: You are certainly right. That’s what it comes down to.