The south Asian high street is facing a fight for its future in Britain as customers scale back wedding celebrations because of the cost of living crisis and young people’s changing preferences.
Businesses in London and Manchester have said they have witnessed a huge decline in customers after the pandemic with the cost of living crisis prompting many to decide against the traditional big south Asian wedding and to seek out cheaper products online.
Ankush Puri opened his south Asian clothing store in the west London district of Southall, nicknamed “Little India”, in 1993. He had moved to the UK from India five years prior and was among several other budding entrepreneurs with their sights on the growing south Asian retail market in the UK.
“Things have changed completely since 1995. In 2024, things are completely different, people are selling online, they’re selling for low prices and shopkeepers have got expenses … the rents and rates are higher but your profits are low and you can’t cope,” he said.
The decline of Britain’s high street has been well documented in recent years, owing to online shopping, rising inflation and lack of investment.
Yet the south Asian retail market has remained extraordinarily resilient, meeting the needs and desires of the country’s growing south Asian population, and offering customers garments, such as saris, lehenga cholis and salwar kameezes, that would otherwise be impossible to find on a typical British high street.
Puri, like many other business owners, has attempted to adapt by launching an online business, DesiSarees.com, and shifting from selling women’s garments to men’s. But, almost 30 years on from opening his store, Puri said he is still struggling to turn a good profit.
“I feel upset about it, actually, because we all work hard. Everyone works seven days a week and we should get some kind of good response business-wise, which we are not getting. That’s why it makes you upset” he said.
Some business owners are more optimistic. Bob Balu, chair of the Soho Road Business Improvement District (BID), said the high street in Birmingham has remained “constantly busy”.
Balu said the BID has invested in campaigns and advertisements across south Asian radio stations and TV channels to encourage more shoppers to the Midlands, marketing Soho Road as a “one stop wedding centre”.
However, he acknowledged that business owners are noticing customers opting for smaller wedding functions after the pandemic – a stark contrast to the typical big south Asian wedding – or not having them at all.
“There’s not one factor that could be said. I think it’s just a build up … weddings are down, kids are not getting married young, they’re getting married in their 30s. There’s so many factors and the cost of living is affecting it,” he said.
“What we’re trying to say is, where there were probably 10 brides, there’s probably five. But we want those five to come here.”
One shop owner, who did not want to be identified, criticised the local council for not doing more to meet the needs of shoppers.
“When I came to Southall, it was quite a booming market. It’d be very hard to find a premises but over these past five years, things have had a major effect … Now, you can find lots of empty shops, you can find lots of empty units.
“The amount of people that come to Southall, they need parking, they need toilets, they need facilities, which, instead of providing more, have been taken away … It seems that the council is not really putting the shoppers first.”
Poonam Millin, whose family set up one of the first south Asian retail stores in Manchester in the 1970s, Alankar Sarees, said she has noticed a “huge decline” in the number of customers entering her store in the past six months.
“The kind of trade we get on a daily basis [has] kind of really cut down. You might get one customer in the morning and one in the evening and then you could be free for the afternoon. Whereas several years ago, we’d have a constant flow of people in the store.”
She added: “I think even the consequences of leaving the European Union which people haven’t realised, which have led to other costs. The cost of shipping our goods in, the rising costs in India, the costs of our electricity, our rent, our rates, have all gone up significantly but yet people’s budgets have tightened.”
An Ealing council spokesperson said: “Supporting Southall’s small businesses to thrive and harnessing investment to create well paid jobs is a key priority for Ealing council through our Good for Ealing inward investment programme.
“New public toilets are planned and are likely to be near Southall Broadway at an accessible location.”
• This article was amended on 29 April 2024. An earlier version incorrectly referenced “Southall council” rather than Ealing council.
