- author, Katie Barnfield
- role, BBC News, Lancashire
Customers at a family-run vitamin and health supplement store in Lancashire have been voicing their opinions about the upcoming general election.
This is part of BBC North West Tonight’s Talking Shop series, which aims to find out more about what matters to people in the run up to voting on 4th July.
We visit a different high street every week and this time we went to Iceberg supplement shop in Blackburn – the store has 25 years experience in the health and fitness industry and is a popular spot for gym goers.
The hardships caused by the rising cost of living weigh heavily on customers’ minds.
“A constant battle”
Owner Abeid Hussain, known to customers as “Ice”, said he wanted to do more to support “small businesses” like his own that have been hit hard by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting skyrocketing costs.
These factors, he said, “are the cause of the downfall of a lot of companies, especially health-related companies, because the first thing people think of is supplements.”
Hussein said he was fighting a “constant battle” to survive and called for more help.
“Every single money I make I reinvest back into the business. Is there any support? There isn’t for small businesses,” he said.
He called on politicians to “come and spend a few days in our shoes and see what we are going through.”
“They’ve never experienced poverty, they’ve had days where they couldn’t go home and couldn’t put food on the table,” he added.
This will be the first time 18-year-old Aadil Khan Dyer will be able to vote in a general election.
The engineering student said he’s “not that interested in politics” but that his main concern is rising costs.
“My overall concern is for all the people who are struggling personally,” he said.
He said he would like to see more support given to students because “everything has become so much more expensive.”
“You hear a lot of stories about how my parents had a great time in college, but it’s not the same,” the teenager said.
He said helping people buy homes is also important to him.
Though it’s still a few years away, he said it’s “nerve-wracking” to think about.
He said he hasn’t fully decided which party he will support, but he intends to vote.
But he said that on voting day he would consider “the majority, not just myself.”
Printer Brad Mount said he’s “still undecided” about who he’ll vote for.
He said he is considering buying a home soon and hopes mortgage rates will fall and that interest rates will be capped.
Danny Huntoff is a security response officer for the NHS but wants to retrain as a nurse.
He also wants mortgage rates to come down, adding: “I want everything to come down, not just mortgages.”
Handthoff said his bills are “manageable.”