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Author: Leigh Sparks
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2.11.2018 Details of my two new books added – Logistics and Retail Management and Food Retailing and Sustainable Development
12.07.2018 Our final Trading Places column for Town & Country Planning is now available on the Trading Places section of this blog
Top Posts & Pages
- Dead or Alive?
- Retail Branding: it's not (just) private label
- Whole Foods Giffnock – Apples or Pears?
- Logistics and Retail Management 5th Edition - now published
- "Destination High Street - Restoring Vibrancy to Scotland's Towns"
- Does Footfall Matter?
- The Wonder of Woolies - continued
- Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowships 2017
- Uncertainty: Brexit and Retailing
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
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Category Archives: Consumers
Dead or Alive?
A few weeks ago I was reading an interview in the Guardian and the interviewee, the writer Barbara Kingsolver, said about the Great Barrier Reef: “You’re hearing about everything that dies, you’re not hearing about everything that’s still alive. If … Continue reading
Posted in Community, Consumers, Local Retailers, Localisation, Regeneration, Reinvention, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Small Shops, Small Towns, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged High Streets, Localisation, Media, Places, Regeneration, retail failure, Store Closures, Store Openings, towns
2 Comments
Trading Places: our Town and Country Planning Columns
In 2012 Anne Findlay and I attempted to take over from Professor Cliff Guy who had provided the Trading Places columns in Town and Country Planning for 12 years. In the subsequent 6 years we have produced 23 columns, but … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Alcohol, BIDS, Bill Grimsey, Bookmakers, Consumer Change, Consumers, Farm Shops, Food Retailing, Government, High Streets, Internet shopping, Mary Portas, Places, Planning, Pop-Up Shops, Proactive Planning, Rates, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Parks, Retail Planning, Retail Policy, Social Inequality, Town & Country PLanning, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Uncategorized
Tagged BIDs, Bookmakers, Business rates, Consumer change, Farm Shops, High Streets, Obesity, Planning, Pop-Up Shops, Rates, Retail, Retail Change, retail parks, Retail Planning, TCPA, Town and Country Planning, Town Centres
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“We’re in the Money”
A couple of weeks have gone by since the notion of a merger of Asda and Sainsbury began to be debated in the media. During that time I wondered whether to add to the coverage via this blog or to … Continue reading
Posted in Asda, Booker, CMA, Competition and Markets Authority, Consumers, Food Retailing, Government, Mergers, Policy, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Sainsbury, Store Closures, Suppliers, Tesco, Wal-Mart
Tagged Asda, Booker, CMA, Competition, FOI, Job Losses, Market share, Retail, Sainsbury, Store Closures, Tesco, Wal-Mart
4 Comments
Shops opening and expanding, queues outside: the High Street picture that’s not making the national news
I recently had an exchange with Iain Nicholson around media coverage of the high street. it followed my recent diatribe about data. I have known Iain for a few years and admired the work he has been doing in towns … Continue reading
Posted in Car Parking, Consumers, Creative Places, Government, High Streets, Independents, Local Retailers, Localisation, Oxfordshire, Places, Planning, Policy, Producers, Record stores, Retail Diversity, Retail Economy, Retailers, Small Shops, Small Towns, Spaces, town centre first, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies
Tagged #indie, #morethanretail, Authors, Car Parking, Comics, Diversity, independents, Oxford Etsy, Oxfordshire, Planning, Positive Places, Rates, Records, Shops, town centre first, Town Centres, Town Teams, Vacancies
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1967 and All Things Retail
2017 was the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the University of Stirling. There were a number of celebrations and activities, as well as periods of reflection. One of the events on campus was an exhibition about 1967. This involved … Continue reading
Posted in 1967, ATMs, Cashpoints, Consumers, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Corporate History, Cumbernauld, Fish, History, New Towns, Pricing, Retail History, Shopping Centres, University of Stirling, Urban History
Tagged 1967, ATMs, Co-operatives, Cumbernauld, Devaluation, Fish Fingers, Retailing, Shopping Centres, University of Stirling
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Healthy Ageing in Scotland (HAGIS) and Online Shopping
We are all getting older, even if many of us are feeling younger than our chronological age. The ageing of the population is a recurrent theme cutting across topics and activities. But, in all of the discussion, there is a … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Consumers, Digital, HAGIS, Healthy Ageing, Institute for Retail Studies, Internet, Internet shopping, Older consumers, Online Retailing, Retail Change, Retailing, Technology, University of Stirling
Tagged Ageing, HAGIS, Healthy Ageing, Internet, Older consumers, Retailing, Scotland, Shopping
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The Future of Work in Retailing? Just Walk Out
There has been quite a lot of attention in the last few days on the Amazon Go unit in Seattle being opened to the public. Much has focused on whether this is the end of retail work and how fast … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon Go, Asda, Automation, BRC, Consumers, Contactless, Convenience stores, Employees, Employment, Food Retailing, Hypermarkets, management, Retail Change, Retailers, Sainsbury, Self-Scanning, Tesco, Urban, WH Smith
Tagged Amazon Go, Asda, BRC, Consumers, Contactless, Employees, Full-time, Just Walk Out, management, Retail Employment, Retail work, Sainsbury, Self-checkouts, technology, Tesco, WH Smith
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