Cheeky - sorry, but that is a very simplistic view of things. You know very well that "sprucing the place up a bit and making it a more pleasant environment to shop" is not going to enable the small high street business to compete with the purchasing power of the large supermarkets, who are in a price war and even selling many items at loss to get the customer through their door. If a small shop tries to run with that concept, spruced up shelves and lick of paint or not, it will go out of business.