IN AN ATTEMPT to find methods to urgently boost trade, dozens of Tavira’s shop owners attended a meeting with the Associação do Comércio e Servicos da Região do Algarve (ACRAL), the Algarve’s association for commerce and services, and Tavira Câmara earlier this month. The main topics of discussion were the threats facing the small shop owners, which are currently causing great concern, namely the impact of hypermarkets and large shops in the area, the alarming growth of “super-cheap” Chinese shops, the increase of street vendors and the current trading hours, among others. Various solutions were presented at the meeting to try to overcome the problems that, if ignored, could spell the end for local shops in the Tavira area. The ideas that will be put into practice include the setting up of partnerships with tourism-related organisations to arrange joint promotions, producing a promotional guide to shops and services, regular publicity campaigns, increasing opening hours by an extra day per week and the organisation of periodical street entertainment.
