Author: Leigh Sparks
Follow me on Twitter
My TweetsPage Updates
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
Writing About ...
Archives
- Follow Stirlingretail on WordPress.com
Meta
Category Archives: Covid19
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
Predicting the Post-Covid Retail Landscape: presentation for Scottish Grocers Federation Cross Party Group
Later on today (from 1815 on the 16th March to be exact) I will be presenting virtually at the latest Scottish Grocers Federation organised Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Local Convenience Stores. I will be speaking, together with David … Continue reading
Posted in Amsterdam, Consumer Change, Consumers, Convenience, Convenience stores, Covid19, Dark Stores, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retailing, Supply Chains
Tagged Convenience stores, Costs, Covid19, Cross Party Group, Dark Stores, Digital, Future, Hyper Local, Inflation, internet retailing, John Lewis, Local Stores, Retailing, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Parliament, scottish retail consortium, Scottish Retail Sales Monitor, Supply chains, Working from Home
Leave a comment
Scottish Retail Sales: Covid Impacts against the Long Term Data
The British/Scottish Retail Consortium has been producing its Scottish Retail Sales Monitor for a long time. I have been charting the results since last century (!) and have commented on the monthly figures in this blog before, for example here … Continue reading
Posted in BRC, Covid19, Food Retailing, Lockdown, Non-food retailing, Pandemic, Retail Sales, Retailers, Sales, Scotland, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retail Sales, Scottish Retailing
Tagged Covid19, Food retailing, Non-food retailing, Pandemic, Retailing, Scotland, scottish retail consortium, Scottish Retail Sales, Scottish Retail Sales Monitor
1 Comment
2021 : the stirlingretail.com year in retrospect
My reflections this time last year noted that in the ten years of running this blog, 2020 had seen it attract the most visitors in a year. 2020 saw more than 70% more visitors than any previous year. Well, the … Continue reading
Posted in Aberdeen, Cooperative Tokens, Covid19, Food Retailing, History, John Lewis Partnership, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Pandemic, Public Policy, Retail Change, Retail History, Retail Policy, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Retailing, Social Renewal, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Covid-19, Food retailing, High Streets, Retail, Retail Change, Retail History, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centres, towns, University of Stirling
Leave a comment
Covid Variants, Retailing and this Christmas
A couple of weeks ago, I pondered putting together something again about the Christmas 2021 retail season. Whilst there were strains over supply and labour availability, retailing seemed set for something much more normal. At about the same time, the … Continue reading
Posted in Boxing Day, Brexit, Christmas, Cities, Consumers, Covid19, Government, Inflation, Internet shopping, Online Retailing, Opening Hours, Pandemic, Retailers, Supply Chains, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged Boxing Day, Brexit, Christmas, Cities, Consumer Confidence, Covid19, Footfall, Government, Inflation, internet retailing, Job vacancies, Pandemic, Retailing, Sales, Supply chains, towns
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
A Gardening Year in Review
I don’t often use the blog for non-retail or personal posts but made an exception this time last year. At the start of lockdown in March 2020 I started a weekly tweet about my greenhouse and last September I reflected … Continue reading