This week has been dominated by poor weather, with heavy rain throughout. Similar to that in Shetland. Tonight I am giving an illustrated talk on Shetland down at the other side of Sheffield near Endcliffe park an area we know well as we lived there for 15 years after getting married. I also lived there for over 40 years in total, man and boy ! before we both moved to the south side of Sheffield.
One thing that has happened both in Shetland and Sheffield is that the small shops have disappeared. As a lad I remember that on our road we had two corner shops which seem to sell everything. It was more than a shop really as it was a place to share information and where people cared for each other. The shops even delivered food to the house bound and would get items that they wouldn't normally sell.
In Shetland we have seen the biggest change on Unst, with all the shops closing at Haroldswick and Uyeasound, leaving only the ones at Baltasound. Overall the problem is that around 1/2 the population left the island when the RAF decided enough was enough and now around 500 people are left. Its far worse on other islands but on Fetlar the shop/ cafe is still running have been taken over twice in recent years.
Every shop has to be diverse to survive now that Supermarkets control things. If fuel was cheaper in Shetland i think that even more people would travel to Lerwick to shop in either the Co-op or Tesco.
Of cause if you can think up something original then you might just survive the onslaught
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