Britain has always been a nation of shopkeepers, and there has been a growing trend for locally sourced goods, brought nearby from independent sellers. Mary Portas’ recent white paper on the future of retail lamented the death of the high street and discussed how it had been out manoeuvred by the out of town superstores with lower prices and free parking. But could a return to more personal shopping, between buyers and sellers, actually help us all, and begin to build a new foundation of trade that could help take Britain out of recession? I certainly think so, and I think hoizo.com is a perfect example of how.

Through trading with independent sellers the money goes straight to them, rather than straight out of the country to a multinational. Every £ you spend goes direct to the seller, rather than direct to the pocket of a CEO.

I think this is a way to use the internet to build a new economy, an economy that is not built on a ‘one too many’ premise but a ‘one – on – one’ one. An economy where money is not spent on a product where most of the investment goes towards the advertising and promotion budget. An economy where money, the money spent on a product, goes to the product maker or the product owner. This is why we built hoizo, this is why hoizo is free, and this is what we are building, a local free shop for everyone, a place for people to try new things, sell new products, a place that tears down the complications, gates and costs of traditional selling.

hoizo is a place where we want to build a new nation of shopkeepers.

We would love you to join us. hoizo.com