Author: Leigh Sparks
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April 2020 -new journal article published (Journal Articles page) on Twenty-One Years of Going Shopping and Marketing History
January 2022 – removal of some redundant pages, reordering of some material, the addition of some new pages (under Commentaries), and some changes to some of the text throughout
Top Posts & Pages
- About Leigh Sparks and this Blog
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Checkout the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
- Predicting the Post-Covid Retail Landscape: presentation for Scottish Grocers Federation Cross Party Group
- A Retail Strategy for Scotland
- Why is Historical Research Important in Marketing?
- Presentations
- A Japanese Eataly? In Singapore?
- Grocery Market Shares in the UK 2020
- Oxford Street, Hull and Beyond
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Category Archives: Community
The Co-operative Group Results 2021
A few weeks ago I was asked to provide a short analysis on the Co-operative Group’s results for 2021. This has now been published in Coop News. I repost it below. If nothing else it shows the impact of the … Continue reading
A Retail Strategy for Scotland
On the 24th March, the Scottish Government unveiled its long-awaited Retail Strategy for Scotland. The Strategy can be found here and the Ministerial statement from Tom Arthur MSP can be found here. Getting the Right Change: A Retail Strategy for … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Bids Scotland, Community, Consumer Change, Employment, Government, Internet shopping, Just Transition, Local Retailers, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Places, Public Policy, Retail Policy, Retail Strategy, Retailers, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Retailing, Shopping, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres
Tagged 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, Climate Emergency, Communities, community wealth building, Employment, Fair Work, Just Transition, Place, Retail, Retail Industry Leadership Group, Retail Strategy, Scotland, Scottish Government, Skills, Town Centres, Wellbeing Economy
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Place and Wellbeing
I was both pleased and interested to be invited to chair the meeting of the Place and Wellbeing Alliance on the 23rd March. Two years to the day when many people who could started to work from home, and here … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Car Use Reduction, Climate Emergency, Community, Data, Health, Neighbourhood, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Our Place, Place Principle, Place Standard, Places, Planning, Public Health, Scottish Government, Shaping Places for Wellbeing, Social Inequality, Social Renewal, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, Well being
Tagged 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Car Use Reduction, Inclusive Design, NPF4, Our Place website, Place, Place and Wellbeing Alliance, Place Standard Tool, Planning, Public Health Scotland, Shaping Places for Wellbeing, Wellbeing
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NPF4 – on the evidence trail
Yesterday I gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on the Scottish Government’s draft National Planning Framework 4. It was an interesting experience and lasted 90 minutes or so with a panel of myself, Professor … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, City Centres, Climate Emergency, Community, Community Assets, Community Development, Community Ownership, community wealth building, Government, Healthy Living, Heritage, Land Use Planning, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Place Principle, Places, Planning, Public Policy, Retail Impact Assessments, Retail Planning, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Stirling, Stirling Council, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged 20 minute, A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Climate Emergency, Community, community wealth building, Housing, Land Use Planning, NPF4, Place Principle, Planners, Planning, Regualation, Retail Impact Assessments, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Stirling, Stirling Council, Town Centres
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Queen Bees : Q-commerce, the on-demand world and the changing meaning of online retailing
Online retailing is now close to 30 years old. It has seen an almost relentless growth over much of this period, accelerated by events such as Black Friday and Christmas, and more recently super-charged by the pandemic and lockdown. The … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, Availability, Black Friday, Community, Consumer Lifestyle, Consumers, Convenience stores, Customer Service, Dark Stores, Employment practices, Food Retailing, Home, Home Delivery, Internet, Internet shopping, Just in Time, Office for National Statistics, On demand retailing, Online Retailing, Q-commerce, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping
Tagged Amazon, Community, Convenience, Convenience stores, Dark Stores, Gig Economy, Home Delivery, internet retailing, Neighbourhood, On demand retailing, Q-commerce, Tesco
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Season’s Greetings
As Chair of Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP) I get to put a Christmas message in the final bulletin of the year which goes out to members. This is an appropriate opportunity to reflect briefly on the last year generally and … Continue reading
Posted in Bids Scotland, Community, Covid19, Gift Card, Localisation, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Pandemic, Place Based Investment Programme, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Christmas, Communities, NPF4, Pandemic, Place Based Investment Programme, Scotland, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns Partnership, towns
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Scotland’s Community Retailers – SLR Awards 2021
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 Awards, Community Retailers, Convenience Retailing, Pandemic, Scotland, Scottish Local Retailer
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Changing Scotland’s Towns
This afternoon (26th October) Scotland’s leading environmental regeneration delivery partner, the Green Action Trust, is hosting a virtual roundtable discussion on how Scotland can achieve long-term change. This takes the form of a conversation with the Scottish Government’s Minister for … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Climate Emergency, Community, community wealth building, Consumer Change, Localisation, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Out of Town, Places, Planning, Public Policy, Regeneration, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Social Renewal, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, Car Parking, Climate Emergency, community wealth building, COP26, Environment, Green Action Trust, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Non-domestic rates, Out of town impacts, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Taxation, Town Centre Action plan
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Scotland – The Recovery : A Turning or Tipping Point for Towns
Holyrood Events (@HolyroodEvents) have invited me to speak at a conference this week. As can be seen from the poster above, the conference is on “Scotland – The Recovery”. They have asked me to speak on the issue of towns … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Community, community wealth building, Covid19, Government, Healthy Living, Internet shopping, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Online Retailing, Places, Recovery, Regeneration, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Social Inequality, Sustainability, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged Covid-19, Holyrood, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Recovery, Retail, Scotland, Social Inequality, Sustainability, Taxation, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centres, towns
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