Category Archives: Cooperative Group

Retail Armageddon

Posted on March 23, 2020 by

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 , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hull and Beyond

Posted on November 4, 2019 by

  I’ve never knowingly been to Hull.  It’s not that I’ve anything against Hull, just that the question of going there has never arisen.  I became a little more aware of it when it owned the accolade as UK City … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, BHS, Buildings, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Department Stores, Design, Historic Shops, History, Hull, Places, Public Realm, Regeneration, Retail History, Spaces, Uncategorized, Urban History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Orc-(k)nee

Posted on May 29, 2018 by

There has been a lot of doom and gloom around in the last few weeks about the state of retail and high streets across the country.  There is clearly a new changed set of circumstances around consumer behaviours and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Cooperative Group, Creative Places, Environmental Quality, Food Tourism, Heritage, High Streets, Independents, Lidl, Orkney, Personal, Places, Pound Shops, Poundland, Public Realm, Retail History, Scotland's Islands, Seafood, Small Shops, Small Towns, Stirling, Tourism, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, Urban History | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

1967 and All Things Retail

Posted on February 16, 2018 by

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 , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two new academic papers on healthy eating and sport

Posted on February 2, 2017 by

The last few weeks of 2016 saw the release in early view of two new articles on which I am co-author.  Both are slightly unrelated directly to retailing, but they do have tangential interest for those who know my broader … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Advertising, Communications, Consumer Lifestyle, Cooperative Group, CSR, Diet and Health, Food Retailing, Pricing, Promotion, Sport | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Boldly Going to the Borders

Posted on September 25, 2016 by

The 8th September this year was notable for a couple of anniversaries.  In 2015 the Queen formally re-opened the Borders Railway.  It was also 50 years since the first episode of Star Trek was broadcast; may retailers ‘live long and … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer Change, Convenience stores, Cooperative Group, Food Retailing, High Streets, Local Retailers, Places, Retail Change, Retailers, Rural, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Borders, Scottish Diaspora Tapestry, Scottish Grocers Federation, Small Towns, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Retail change and why we fell in love with supermarkets?

Posted on February 5, 2016 by

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 , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What Future for the Co-operative Group?

Posted on May 16, 2014 by

“This is a radical report aimed at a stuffy, conservative organisation which has fallen badly behind the times. After such a report, no movement could possibly sit back and do nothing.” One might be forgiven for thinking that the quotation … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Governance, Retail Failure, Retailers | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What’s £3bn between retailers?

Posted on April 23, 2014 by

I make no apologies for returning to two businesses I have discussed before on this blog – namely Tesco and the Co-operative Group/Movement – after all, they were the leading retail stories in the days before Easter, and both look … Continue reading →

Posted in Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Dark Stores, Food Retailing, Retailers, Tesco | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Civil Wars

Posted on October 22, 2013 by

In my last blog I went on about anniversaries; little did I know! Hardly had I committed the blog to the ether than I obtained a copy of John Wilson and colleagues’ newly published 150th anniversary history of The Cooperative … Continue reading →

Posted in Banks, Books, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Food Retailing, History, Retailers | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment