Pictured above: (L to R)Peter Riches, All The Little Shops and John Hall Write Here on the High Street in Shrewsbury

Following the success of Shrewsbury's Independence Day campaign on July 4th, one local businessman is calling on independent retailers to continue to work together.

Shropshire entrepreneur Peter Riches explained: "this weekend's Independence Day promotion, organised by Shop in the Loop, was a great idea and succeeded in generating some well deserved publicity about our independent gems across the town, as well as helping to create much needed business. But one day is not - and will never be - enough".

"Having lived and worked in Shrewsbury for more than 35 years I've seen many changes on the high street, including the closure of Woolworths and Zavvi which has hit footfall hard.  Many town centres have done little to help themselves - but Shrewsbury is leading the way.  The multiples have big budgets to drive business into their shops - but it's generally the independent retailers that get the raw deal, and I hope that by working together we can make a real difference."

Peter is the man behind the innovative e-commerce portal All the Little Shops which was designed to allow local independent businesses to come together and compete on an equal footing with some of the chain stores. Customers are able to visit the website and see the wide range of products and services offered in the independent shops, so promotes local shopping.

Far more than just a directory, shops can list items that can be purchased in-store or online and multiple purchases from any number of local shops can be made with just one electronic shopping trip via a secure payment gateway. You can even plan your day, see where to park and choose a coffee shop, pub or restaurant to re-energise after a quality shopping experience.

"We launched All the Little Shops just one year ago and are already working with more than 20 town centre management groups across the UK, to support them in introducing the scheme" explained Peter. "I'm passionate about the value and unique offer independents bring to our high street, and I'm determined to do all that I can to help them through this tough trading time."

All the Little Shops / Shrewsbury already has over 180 independent businesses listed and more than 1000 products online. To support his campaign further, Peter has extended a free offer for all independent businesses in Shrewsbury to register with the All the Little Shops scheme by the end of the month and upload 20 products.

"We've also recently added a printable incentive voucher that allows visitors to the website an opportunity to save by redeeming the voucher in-store" he explained. "After seeing the great offers that were made available on Independence Day it makes sense to integrate these offers into All the Little Shops / Shrewsbury website and promote them to local shoppers to drive footfall into our town centre and into our independent shops."

"In Shrewsbury we are  particularly lucky to have such a wide range of quality and unusual stores, but unless we support them with more than just a day's activity we run the risk of losing them forever" he concluded.

Each All the Little Shops website is set up for independent retailers to use either as an online shop or as a catalogue. Products can be changed and updated by the shop owners who can also access online reports and receive optional text alerts when an e-sale is made. Every retailer has equal exposure as a new shop is featured every time the web page is refreshed. The flexibility of the site is such that it suits large and small towns alike.