'Work from home' blamed for Big Issue sales slump

Shaun Vagg sells copies of Big Issue North in Hull city centre

Big Issue sales have slumped by a third as people continue the Covid trend of working from home, the organisation says.

The cost of living crisis, Covid fears and the loss of High Street stores are also adding to vendors' woes.

Hull-based Shaun Vagg said his sales have more than halved, forcing him to "rip up" unsold magazines.

He said: "I should be selling 25-30 magazines a day. Now I'm lucky if I sell 10."

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George Wright, head of communications at Big Issue North, said changing work patterns were having a "significant impact".

He said: "In big cities such as Manchester and Liverpool, there has been a reduction in commuting. Pre-pandemic, you'd have hundreds of thousands of people filing through Manchester Oxford Road station each day.

"You had office workers popping out for a sandwich at lunchtime. These are the times that people would buy a magazine."

Vendors buy magazines for £1.50 each and sell them for £3, keeping the profit.

Mr Wright said vendors were being "more cautious".

'Unsold magazines'

"Pre-pandemic, vendors would buy a stack of magazines on a Monday morning to last them the week," he said.

"They'd be confident they could sell them. Now they tend to buy only a few at a time because they don't know if they'll be able to sell them."

Mr Vagg, 44, said he was recently left with about £130 worth of unsold magazines.

"I had to rip them up because you can't sell out-of-date magazines," he said. "It's heartbreaking.

"People are just not coming into the city centre. It used to be a lot busier [pre-pandemic]. People also don't seem to have as much money."

The closure of the Marks & Spencer store in Hull city centre in May 2019 effectively "killed footfall", he said.

Mr Vagg added many of his older customers remained "dubious" about venturing into the city centre.

"They are still worried about Covid," he said.

Mr Vagg, who began selling Big Issue 14 years ago, said about a dozen of his regular customers had not returned after the pandemic.

Reinforcing the importance of the magazine, Mr Vagg said: "If it was not for the Big Issue, I would be 6ft under."