This summer the British Independent Retailers Association will hit the road touring the UK offering free advice and support to independent retailers.
The roadshow is a new approach by BIRA to improve membership communications and to increase support for the UK's independents.

BIRA will visit 10 destinations across the UK and will give local retailers in the area a chance to hear more about BIRA membership through a series of short talks and to gain free advice from BIRA experts.

BIRA's membership and marketing director, Sarah Golden, said: "Finding time is an issue for all of us these days, but even more so for local independent retail owners who have so many business hats to wear and plates spinning. We've designed these sessions to be short, valuable and practical and instead of asking local retailers to visit us in one national location, we're coming to their towns to try to be as helpful as we can at their convenience.

"They'll get a good taster of what they could benefit from long term should they decide to join BIRA, the difference membership could make and how their business could further prosper, but not from BIRA, they'll hear it from fellow retailers and our services themselves; it's not an old fashioned sales pitch, we're showing them how it works - it's up to them to decide if its right for them. Of course, we hope it is, after all, the more retailers that join BIRA, the stronger we are together."

The roadshow starts in Shrewsbury on August 20 and will continue on to Leamington Spa, Leek, Aberdeen, Tunbridge Wells, Bath, Perth, Harrogate, Cheltenham and will end in Colchester on October 8.