Author: Leigh Sparks
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May 2021 – Journal Articles page updated with two new academic papers in Planning, Theory and Practice, and Sustainability, joining our Ageing & Society paper
March 2021 – Personal Biography redesigned and updated
January 2021 – Updates of Media Commentary and Journal Articles page structures
Top Posts & Pages
- Town Centres in Wales: Bounded Muscularity?
- Grocery Market Shares in the UK 2020
- Convenience Stores and the Covid-19 Pandemic
- Scotland's Town Centre Action Plan Review
- Axe Stores (this is a description not an instruction)
- Planning: Good, Evil or Just Tedious?
- Journal Articles 2021
- Town & Country Planning Journal (Trading Places Columns) 2012-2018
- The Buttercup Dairy Company
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
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Category Archives: Charity Shops
Embracing Failure in the Shadow of Success
This post’s title is the sub-title from a book I recently read. It concerns Mick Channon Jnr and his relationship with his father, who he describes as “an arthritic workaholic grumpy old bastard” and only grudgingly as an ex England … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Bookmakers, Charity Shops, Closure, Consumer Lifestyle, Discounters, Heritage, High Streets, Local Retailers, Markets, Places, Planning, Pound Shops, Property, Regeneration, Retail Economy, Shopfronts, Social Inequality, Social Justice, Store Closures, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged Bookmakers, Books, Class, Community, Discounters, failure, Football, Gentrification, High Street, Horses, Pound shops, Retail, Retail Change, Success
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Place Matters: Local Environmental Quality and Charity Retailing
Last Tuesday was one of those days where I was sort of double-booked, and ended up doing two conference presentations, though I prefer to think of it as enhanced academic productivity. In the morning, I presented on the strategic role … Continue reading
Posted in Charity Shops, Environmental Quality, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Places, Public Realm, Retail Change, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Sustainability, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Charity Retailing, Environmental Quality, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Places, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Partnership, towns
2 Comments
Retail change and why we fell in love with supermarkets?
My long-term colleague, Anne Findlay has just sent me a newspaper clipping that she recently found in her parent’s house. A quick bit of research (or Googling as we now call it) dated it to February 7th 1962. Anne knew … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Charity Shops, Consumer Change, Consumer Lifestyle, Cooperative Group, Coopers, Food Retailing, Glasgow, Historic Shops, Planning, Retail Change, Retail History, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Spaces, Store Closures, Streetscapes, Supermarket, Urban History
Tagged ABF, Architecture, Buildings, change, Consumers, Coopers, Fine Fare, Glasgow, Howard St, Retailers, Supermarkets
2 Comments
Retailing in Scotland’s Largest Towns and Cities 2015
On Tuesday, ourselves at the Institute for Retail Studies, University of Stirling and the Local Data Company presented our third annual Retail Review of Scotland’s largest towns and cities. The headlines are that vacancy rates continue to fall, adjustment processes … Continue reading
Posted in Charity Shops, Churn, Competition, Government, High Streets, Local Data Company, Places, Regeneration, Reinvention, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Services, Small Towns, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, University of Stirling, Vacancies
Tagged High Streets, Local Data Company, Retailing, Scotland, Services, Town Centres, towns, Vacancies
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2nd Scottish Retail Summit 2nd December 2014
The Local Data Company/University of Stirling 2nd Scottish Retail Summit will be held on the 2nd December at KPMG in Edinburgh. The Summit will update our report from last year and reveal the new retail vacancy for Scotland and our … Continue reading
Posted in Charity Shops, Convenience stores, ESRC, Government, High Streets, Independents, Local Data Company, Places, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Grocers Federation, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, University of Stirling, Vacancies
Tagged High Streets, Local Data Company, Retail, Scotland, towns, Vacancy
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The Outs and Ins of Administration
Towards the end of last week the retail news was rather dominated by a Deloitte report based on Local Data Company data (The changing face of retail: where did all the shops go?) suggesting that the death of the high … Continue reading
Retailing in Scotland’s Towns and Cities II
Just prior to Christmas we launched our joint report with the Local Data Company on Scotland’s towns and cities and their retail structure. Details from then can be found here. I stated then that I would return to the topic … Continue reading
Local Data Company/University of Stirling Scotland’s Towns Report: Event Update
As forewarned in a post a couple of weeks ago, last Tuesday saw a wide range of people gather to hear about the work we have been doing with The Local Data Company analyzing some of their data on Scotland’s … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Charity Shops, Government, High Streets, Independents, Local Data Company, Local Retailers, Places, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Town Centre Review, Town Centres
Tagged Charity Shops, Local Data Company, Research, Retail, Scotland, Scotland's Cities, Scotland's Towns, Vacancy
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Rates relief
The rating system and retailing seem to be on something of a collision path at the moment, with no one really liking what is going on. The whole issue is generating a lot of noise, but little positive outcome and … Continue reading
Posted in Charity Shops, Government, Places, Property, Rates, Town Centres, Vacancies
Tagged Charity Shops, failure, Rates, Retailers, Town Centres
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