// NEWS //
Searches surge for businesses that no longer exist on the high street
Many familiar high street businesses have quietly disappeared over the past two decades, replaced by chains, online shopping and changing consumer habits.
But while shopping habits have evolved, many consumers still feel nostalgic about the local businesses that once formed the backbone of neighbourhoods.
According to Mary Tamvakologos, Operations Director at Anybusiness. com. au, marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers of small businesses often see strong interest in certain traditional business types, particularly those with a loyal customer base and strong community ties.
“ People often underestimate how emotionally attached communities become to local businesses,” Tamvakologos said.“ When a shop that’ s been part of a town for years disappears, it’ s not just a retail space that’ s gone. It’ s part of the local identity.”
While some traditional businesses have struggled to compete with digital services and large chains, Tamvakologos says nostalgia is also creating renewed interest in certain business models, particularly those that offer experiences consumers cannot easily replicate online. Online search data also suggests growing curiosity about these once common businesses, with thousands of people still searching for them each month.
Some of the most searched for are video rental stores, Internet cafes, toy shops, arcades and traditional sweet shops.
Smarsh launches AI-enabled communication surveillance for small to medium businesses
As compliance teams across financial services struggle to keep pace with exploding volumes of digital communications and intensifying regulatory scrutiny, Smarsh has announced the launch of its Noise Reduction Agent, an autonomous AI capability designed to dramatically reduce compliance alert volume up to
60 % and eliminate thousands of hours of non-actionable review work each month.
For small and mid-sized financial firms operating under the same regulatory obligations as the world’ s largest banks – but without comparable staffing – alert fatigue has become a structural risk. Reviewers often process thousands of daily communications, the majority of which pose no regulatory concern.
“ Compliance teams aren’ t overwhelmed by misconduct – they’ re overwhelmed by the volume of noise,” said Sheldon Cummings, President, Corporate Business at Smarsh.“ Noise Reduction Agent allows firms to suppress low-risk communications before they ever reach supervision queues, dramatically reducing review backlogs while preserving full regulatory defensibility.”
Today, nearly half of all global email traffic is spam, highlighting the scale of the noise compliance teams must filter every day. Unlike traditional filtering tools that operate after alerts are generated, Noise Reduction Agent applies AI during ingestion within Smarsh Professional Archive.
The system automatically identifies and suppresses low-risk email content – such as spam, disclaimers, newsletters, promotional text and automated system messages – while preserving complete records for audit and regulatory purposes.
This proactive approach enables firms to reduce operational burden without compromising supervision, compliance or defensibility and allowing them to focus on real compliance issues. �
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