Author: Leigh Sparks
-
Follow me on Twitter
My TweetsPage Updates
January 2023 – Roll over of some areas for new year, plus The Conversation piece on Christmas trading updates published (see commentaries tab) and main posts
December 2022 – End of year tidying up and re-arrangement, including link to EDAS podcast on places and towns (see presentations tab)
April 2022 -new journal article published (Journal Articles page) on Twenty-One Years of Going Shopping and Marketing History
Top Posts & Pages
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Retail Armageddon - Non Food
- Logistics and Retail Management 5th Edition
- Singapore's Scary Monsters
- The Cost-of-living Crisis and its impact on Retailers and their Customers
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
- Retail Impact Assessments: Time for a Rethink?
- Oxford Street, Hull and Beyond
- Then there were three?
Writing About ...
Archives
-
Join 5,450 other subscribers
- Follow Stirlingretail on WordPress.com
Meta
Category Archives: Architecture
Avenues to the Past: Stirling’s Historic Streets
This post is about an exhibition that has already closed. Sorry about that, but I did not get to see it until its penultimate day. It had only a three-week life, so I hope you forgive me. Avenues to the … Continue reading
Posted in Arcades, Architecture, Buildings, City Centres, Exhibitions, High Streets, Historic Shops, Places, Retailers, Stirling, Streets, Streetscapes, Town Centres, Towns, Urban History
Tagged Arcades, Architecture, Buildings, Exhibition, High Streets, History, Made in Stirling, Stirling, Streetscapes, Town Centres
Leave a comment
Clapped Out
The last two weeks of June saw a mammoth effort in the University of Stirling to catch up on graduation events for our 2020 and 2021 cohorts as well as our 2022 graduands. Ten ceremonies over the two weeks saw … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Architecture, Buildings, Campus Central, Design, Places, Reinvention, RICS, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Design Awards, University of Stirling
Tagged Campus Central, Graduation, Page\Park, RICS, Robertson, Scottish Design Awards, University of Stirling
Leave a comment
Departing Stores and Place Vandalism
“Loss of local identity is a powerful factor that can influence the social and economic wellbeing of a town. By preserving the fabric of distinctive historic buildings, particularly those as prominent as former department stores, residents can recover a sense … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, City Centres, Department Stores, Design, Edinburgh, Heritage, High Streets, Historic Shops, Marks and Spencer, Oxford Street, Places, Town Centres, Urban History
Tagged Architecture, Buildings, C20 Society, City Centres, Demolition, Department Stores, Design, Edinburgh, Heritage, High Streets, Hull, Jenners, Marks and Spencer, Oxford Street, Place Vandalism, Places, Retailing, Three Ships, Town Centres, Urban History
3 Comments
Oxford Street, Hull and Beyond
I have never really understood the fascination with Oxford Street as the retail heart of the UK. I get that there are some great buildings, but as a shopping street, though not a great streetscape, it has never worked for … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Campaigns, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Department Stores, Historic Shops, History, Hull, Marks and Spencer, Oxford Street, Places, Regeneration, Retail History, Streetscapes, Town Centres, Towns, Urban History
Tagged Alan Boyson, Architecture, Buildings, Cooperative Group, Department Stores, Heritage, History, Marks and Spencer, Modernism, Murals, Oxford Street, Retail, Ships in the Sky, Streetscapes, Town Centres
1 Comment
The Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels
A good few years ago, Anne Findlay and myself published a paper on the changing retail structure in the Borders using longitudinal data. We titled this ‘Weaving new retail and consumer structures in the Scottish Borders,’ reflecting the weaving history … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Community Assets, Culture, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Exhibitions, Great Tapestry of Scotland, High Streets, New Towns, Places, Regeneration, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Borders, Scottish Diaspora Tapestry, Streetscapes, Thomas Lipton, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged Cultural Assets, East Kilbride, Galashiels, Great Tapestry of Scotland, History, New Towns, Places, Scottish Borders, Scottish Diaspora Tapestry, Town Centres, Urban Change
3 Comments
Small Shops: Brian Lomas
I have just been alerted (thanks to @LeighVBird) to a book recently published by the modernist on the topic of Small Shops. It consists of 45 black and white photographs of small shops from North Manchester, taken in the early … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Community, Consumer Change, Food Retailing, Historic Shops, History, Independents, Local Retailers, Manchester, Neighbourhood, Retail Change, Retailing, Small Shops, Social Change, Urban, Urban History
Tagged 1980s, Books, Community, Manchester, Photographs, Retailing, Retailing change, Small shops, Social Change, the modernist, Urban History
Leave a comment
Aberdeen, No More?
The Covid pandemic has hit retailing hard. Government support (though important) has in no way matched the lost sales and business. Previous trends have been accelerated, most notably in terms of online sales. Retailers of all shapes and sizes have … Continue reading
Posted in 1960s, Aberdeen, Architecture, Bids Scotland, Buildings, City Centres, Closure, Consumers, Cooperatives, Covid19, Department Stores, Internet shopping, John Lewis Partnership, Lockdown, Norco, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Rates, Regulation, Rents, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopping, Social value, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Waitrose
Tagged Aberdeen, Architecture, Brutalism, Business Improvement Districts, City Centres, Consumers, Covid-19, Department Stores, John Lewis, John Lewis Partnership, Norco, Online sales, Retail costs, Retailing, Scotland's Towns, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group
2 Comments
Screen Time? Cinemas and Town Centres
One of the things that people have missed though the pandemic is the ability to go to a cinema and see a film. This is a social as well as an artistic activity, whihc raises questions about the types and … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Cinemas, Consumers, Creative Places, High Streets, Regeneration, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Social value, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban History
Tagged Assets, Ayr, Catchment, Cinema, Investment, Leisure, Retail, Town Centres
6 Comments
The Architecture of England’s Co-operative Movement
Over two and a half years ago I attended a seminar at the Engine Shed in Stirling called ‘Talking Shops’ and my blog discussion of the event can be found here. In that post I noted the presentation by Lynn … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art Deco, Buildings, Community, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Corporate branding, Corporate History, Department Stores, Design, Historic Shops, History, Hull, Localisation, Places, Retail Change, Retailers, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban History
Tagged Architecture, Book, Buildings, Co-operatives, Community, Design, Historic England, Historic Shops, History, Retailing, Ships in the Sky, Talking Shops
1 Comment
The Buttercup Dairy Company
One of the most enjoyable things about social media is the ease of connectivity to people, their work and interesting (well, to me) things. It really is so much more simpler and easier than decades ago. A good example of … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Books, Buttercup Dairy Company, Corporate History, Creative Places, Edinburgh, Food Retailing, Grocery, Heritage, Historic Shops, History, Retail Change, Retail History, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopfronts, Signage, Town Centres, Uncategorized, Urban History
Tagged Architecture, Buttercup Dairy Company, Customer service, Grocery, Heritage, Retail History, Shop Fronts, Shops, Tiles
1 Comment
Stirlingretail 