The Guardian14 Jun 2026Macro
Automatically composed with AI from the cited sources
Rosie Wolfenden, managing director of jewellery brand Tatty Devine, writes that her 27-year-old niche independent retail business has “hit a wall,” citing rising minimum wages, higher national insurance and business rates, soaring material costs, and falling customer disposable income. She notes that small businesses collectively employ “nearly half the nation’s workforce” and warns of a “domino effect of closures.”