With the cost of living crisis starting to bite, and Christmas gifting about to ramp up, getting your parking paid for while you shop in town is an offer few can refuse. So it’s welcome news for those living in Bexhill and Eastbourne that gift and homewares retailer Maybugs is offering to pay for customer parking charges from 1 November – 24 December.
Supported by a major advertising campaign on Sussex’s More Radio, Maybug’s co-owner and managing director Greg Rose explains: “for anyone spending at least £50 in one transaction at Maybugs, all they will need to do is to show their parking ticket and at least £5 will be discounted off of their purchase, and up to £8.40 to cover seven hours parking in the most expensive of the local car parks in Eastbourne. Even if a customer’s parking costs less than £5, they will still get the £5 discount. All products are included, even those that are reduced already.”
As Greg points out, “parking charges around the country have increased massively this year, and in Eastbourne and Bexhill, the price of parking is obscene. With the current cost of living crisis, we recognise that so many families haven’t got a spare £8.40 to pay for the privilege of going to the shops once, let alone several times. We know this money is something that they would much rather spend on their loved ones presents. Therefore we thought there has got to be another way to get people back into the town. We came up with the idea that we could discount our customers purchases up to the value of their parking. That way, effectively, we have paid for their parking, plus it’s a way of us saying thank you for shopping with us.”
Maybugs co-owner John Dale, sales director at Maybugs, adds: “councils and large corporations that own shopping centres are ripping people off for parking and destroying small businesses at the same time. We all know customers can order online and get something delivered very easily. This means that they are even less likely to go to a town and shop if they have to pay a fortune just to park.”
Greg states that while he and John agree that during the summer tourist season it makes sense to charge an increased amount for parking, during Christmas, when locals want to come and support small independent businesses at such a critical moment for so many small retailers like Maybugs, he questions why councils and corporations are putting barriers like this in the customer’s way.
“If you look at Hailsham, where Wealden District Council offer free parking, the town has one of the lowest vacant shop rates in the UK, the high street is full of independent shops, and we are happy to say that Maybugs continues to thrive! So we hope that this promotion in both Eastbourne and Bexhill will help drive footfall, not just for us but for all the independent shops in these towns. Christmas trade should be all of our most profitable time, with that profit keeping all of us going for the rest of the year.”
The first Maybugs gift store was opened in 2018 as a standalone retail store in Hailsham Vicarage Field Shopping Centre. The Eastbourne branch opened in 2021 in the former Laura Ashley building, with the Bexhill store opening in July 2022 in the former British Bookshops premises.
All three stores stock a wide variety of gifts and homewares, to include giftware brands such as Jellycat, Wrendale Designs, Inis Fragrance and Carrie Elspeth jewellery.
Top: Greg Rose, co-owner of Maybugs, is shown outside the Eastbourne store holding the promotional parking poster.
