Category Archives: Community Grocer

Scotland’s Community Retailers – SLR Awards 2021

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Leigh Sparks

The last year has been one like no other and the contribution of community retailers across Scotland has been one of the outstanding and life-affirming stories to come out of the pandemic. Last week Scottish Local Retailer recognised this through … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Community Grocer, Consumers, Convenience stores, Food Retailing, Local Retailers, Pandemic, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scottish Local Retailer, Scottish Retailing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Christmas and more in March – but only for some

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

On the 31st March, Kantar released their data on the last four weeks of grocery sales and the figures were eye-watering, outperforming Christmas sales and periods. March was the biggest month of grocery sales in the UK ever recorded. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Christmas, Community Grocer, Consumer Change, Convenience stores, Covid19, Data, Food, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Kantar, Lidl, Local Retailers, Logistics, Non-food retailing, Online Retailing, Panic buying, Restaurants, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Sainsbury, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Retail Armageddon

Posted on March 23, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

A couple of weeks ago we were delighted to have Helen Dickenson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium deliver our Retail Futures lecture. Her title, Retail Armageddon or Reinvention? and her presentation were about the retail restructuring underway. Three … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Community Grocer, Consumers, Cooperative Group, Covid19, Employment, Food Retailing, Local Retailers, Logistics, Opening Hours, Panic buying, Retailers, Retailing, Scottish Retail Consortium, Shopping, Supermarket, Supply Chains, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Return to Sender? Deposit Return Schemes

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

I am in the fortunate position of being able to get involved in two Scottish Parliament Cross Party Groups; one on Towns and Town Centres linked to Scotland’s Towns Partnership, and one on Independent Convenience Stores linked to the Scottish … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Grocer, Consumer Lifestyle, Convenience stores, Deposit Return Scheme, Food Retailing, Government, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Legislation, Local Retailers, Public Realm, Regulation, Retailers, Retailing, Returns, Reverse Vending, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Small Shops, Uncategorized, Vending Machines | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are Retailers Social Engineers?

Posted on September 19, 2017 by Leigh Sparks

A few months ago, we published our report for Food Standards Scotland (FSS) entitled “Identifying and Understanding the Factors that can Transform the Retail Environment to Enable Healthier Purchasing by Consumers”.  The report and various summaries along with our brief … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Grocer, Consumer Lifestyle, Consumers, Convenience stores, Cross Party Group, Deposit Return Scheme, Diet and Health, Food, Food Retailing, Food Standards, Health, Healthcare Retail Standard, Healthy Living, Independents, Local Retailers, Restaurants, Retail Change, Retailers, Scotland Food and Drink, Scottish Grocers Federation, Small Shops, Social Inequality, Social Justice, Sugar Tax, Waste | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Announcement: ESRC PhD Studentship 2016

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Leigh Sparks

Fully Funded ESRC PhD on Scottish convenience store retailing; understanding local impacts and cost drivers to enhance performance Last week I had one of those great emails, bringing good news.  I had been successful again in the ESRC Scottish Graduate … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Association of Convenience Stores, Community Grocer, Convenience stores, Costs, ESRC, Food Retailing, Local Multiplier, Local Retailers, PhD, Retail Economy, Scottish Grocers Federation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Local Convenience Stores in a Challenging Retail Environment

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

It is always a pleasure to be simply able to stroll across the University car park to the Stirling Court Hotel (formerly the Stirling Management Centre) in order to present at an industry conference. Last Wednesday the Scottish Grocers Federation … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Grocer, Competition, Convenience stores, Food Retailing, Independents, Local Multiplier, Local Retailers, MSPs, Planning, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Local Retailer, Small Shops | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Convenience and Community

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

In the disaster zone that was the Tesco half year results finally released the other week, there were two figures that confirmed again the changing structure of British grocery retailing. And for a change neither of them were really to … Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Association of Convenience Stores, Community Grocer, Convenience stores, Local Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Grocers Federation, Small Shops | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Todmorden, Bruntsfield, Little Salkeld …. Local in Action

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

Many will know of the Incredible Edible Todmorden story – I mentioned Pam Warhurst’s presentation at Scotland’s Towns Conference a few posts ago – and some may have got involved in the Kickstarter crowdfunding of a book about their experiences, … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D Printing, Campaigns, Community Grocer, Crowdfunding, Food, Localisation, Places, Retail Diversity, Seeds, Water Mills | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments