CHANGING TIMES: A corner shop in London

Rajan Raman, an Indian immigrant, bought a shop in Croydon in the late 1970s. Enthusiastic and eager to make it a success he stocked in it everything from wine to vegetables. A good run later, however, the venture started running downhill. After a prolonged struggle, Raman eventually decided to sell the shop. "My children studied well and my daughter became a solicitor. I saw no reason in continuing a loss-making venture. My children were not interested in the business anyway," he says. The corner shop has now been converted into a video rental store for Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam films.

It's a subjective opinion but any which way one looks at it, the geographical landscape of London is set to change, history be damned. In a significant revelation, researchers at John Moores University have said that the Asian corner shop in the UK-once the lifeline of the Asian immigrant-is on its way to extinction. Numbers in the past decade have fallen to less than 12,000 and the trend is accelerating.

"I had a roaring business before Sainsbury's began stocking Asian foods." Mohammed Arif, Grocery shop owner, Kenton

"About 25 per cent of the corner shops have closed because of the pressures of competition," notes David McEvoy, head of urban geography at the University, "and also because of the demographics of change. British-born members of the community just don't want that as a life."

Indeed, supermarkets, discount chains and medium-sized retailers have sounded the death knell for Asian corner shops. Equipped with facilities that corner shops could never boast of-parking space and hi-tech security systems, inter alia-their burgeoning numbers forced the small-time corner shops to give way (see box).

Gurdip Singh, who ran a shop in north-west London for almost 20 years, has now sold it off. While his eldest son is a financial analyst in the city, the other children had little interest in the business. "They don't see a future in it and these days there is too much competition from the supermarkets," Singh says, resigning himself to the double whammy that hit him.

"My younger son is 10 and it is difficult for me to start something else." Ravinder Singh, Newsagent

It wasn't always so. When they came to the UK, Asians found it beyond them to find suitable jobs, university degrees notwithstanding. Instead of taking up any job in the offing, the immigrants moved into fields that the natives were abandoning. One of them was corner shops and the other, the now ubiquitous newsagents.

Ignorant about British laws, they overhauled the work system, keeping their shops open till late in the evening-unlike the prevalent norms-and on Sundays too-a violation of the 1950 Shops Act. "Later when they learned about it, they ignored it," says McEvoy.

In fact, Sundays were important business days as major supermarkets remained closed on the day. Until the 1950 Shops Act was repealed in 1994 it was illegal for most shops to remain open on Sundays or after 8 p.m. on weekdays, except to sell perishable goods like newspapers, magazines and vegetables.

But with shops remaining open 24 hours, and an increasing number of supermarkets and multi-utility stores coming into play, trade is slowly slipping away from the corner shops.

Despite mounting problems and competition, Mohammed Arif, 48, who has been running such a shop in Kenton for 16 years, refuses to sell it off. Having done nothing else, he can't imagine life outside it. He opens it early each morning and closes late at 10 p.m. even though business is quiet these days. But Arif is confident that his children will not be running corner shops-willy nilly he is certain to sell it off. "I had a roaring business till Sainsbury's started opening for long hours and began stocking vegetables and Asian food. Now our business is very quiet, we are just surviving," he sighs. "Because of some loyal Greek customers, we are still functioning. We sell Greek items which are not available anywhere else."

Ravinder Singh, too, refuses to surrender to sociological sweeps. He is going to keep the shop running for his family. "My younger son is 10 and it is very difficult for me start something else," Ravinder says. So he takes in his stride the long working hours, intense competition and changing trends. "My newsagents is open from 6 in the morning till 8 at night. Sundays no longer witness long queues of people wanting to buy newspapers," he sighs. "Besides, supermarkets sell everything and at cheaper rates. They sell £4 worth of milk for 80p because they can make money somewhere else. They stay open round-the-clock. They sell everything from newspapers to flowers ... even electric goods. That's why you see no flower shops in Kenton," Ravinder offers.

The paradigm shift in demography has marked a significant change in the attitude of the younger generation. Born and educated in Britain, they find it easier to land plum jobs, something that eluded their parents. Moreover, they are not willing to labour for long hours with no commensurate return. Parents, on their part, are also insisting that their children go for vocational degrees and not history or geography considering it's harder to be discriminated against in a skilled professional field.

Another reason for the closure of the Asian corner shops is unemployment, which has shoved several of the displaced into other businesses, taxi driving and working in restau-rants included.

Recent research in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, showed that though the fall in Asian food businesses was up to 30 per cent, the overall number of businesses run by Asians had increased. The number of self-employed people in the workforce of Indian origin has fallen from 20 per cent in 1990 to 14 per cent as better education enables them to get more professional jobs.

Along with corner shops-long associated with Asians-another sector is also facing rough weather: the Asian textile sector in Britain, which was robbed of its profits by the implementation of National Minimum Wage (NMW). "Clothing sector was invented by Asians in Birmingham and revived in London. However, after NMW was introduced, they face fierce competition from Portugal, eastern European countries and Morocco," explains McEvoy.

To keep afloat, businessmen are trying to adapt to the changing scenario. Asian-owned Gigi chain has a contract with underground stations while Treats sells Indian food in tube stations. And to ensure that the business keeps rolling, McEvoy advises Asian corner shop owners to give a thrust to their display techniques. Clearly, tough times require desperate measures.