Category Archives: ESRC

“Christmas and the Cost-of-Living Crisis: How will retailers cope?”

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Leigh Sparks

The past two year’s holiday seasons were tough for the UK’s retail sector, with lockdowns and resulting changes in consumer behaviour. I covered the previous Christmas periods in two pieces for the Economics Observatory (2020 and 2021) and followed this … Continue reading →

Posted in Aldi, Brexit, Christmas, Consumers, Cost of Living, Costs, Discounters, Economics Observatory, Energy Costs, ESRC, Food, Food Retailing, Inflation, Lidl, Market Shares, Places, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Benefits of Collaboration

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Leigh Sparks

Last week I gave two presentations – well to be more exact I did that academic thing and did two versions of the same presentation.  The first was a presentation to a UKCGE workshop on Collaborative Doctorates; the audience was … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Collaboration, Competition and Markets Authority, Consumer Change, Data, ESRC, Local Data Company, PhD, Places, Retailing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fully Funded ESRC Collaborative PhD Studentship on Scottish convenience store retailing

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Leigh Sparks

  Three Year Fully Funded ESRC Collaborative PhD Studentship on ‘Scottish convenience store retailing; understanding local impacts and cost drivers to enhance performance’ – Now Open for Applications A few weeks ago I gave preliminary notice of our success in obtaining … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Association of Convenience Stores, Convenience stores, ESRC, Food Retailing, Independents, PhD, Retail Economy, Retailers, Scotland, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Local Retailer, Sustainability, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 Data Company/University of Stirling 3rd Scottish Town Centres Event

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

The Local Data Company/University of Stirling 3rd Scottish Retail Town Centres Event will be held on the 1st December at KPMG Offices in Edinburgh. The Town Centres Event builds on the 2013 and 2014 events and reports and will reveal … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, ESRC, High Streets, Independents, Local Data Company, Longitudinal Data, Places, Reinvention, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Town Centres, University of Stirling, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Retail Thought Leadership

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

Regular readers of this blog will know about the work we do with the Local Data Company (LDC). As a University we are not alone in this. A couple of weeks ago I attended the LDC/CDRC Retail Thought Leadership event … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Data, Education, ESRC, Local Data Company, PhD, Relationships, Retailers, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Wrong Vocabulary?

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

One of the recurring themes within this blog, and some of the writings and papers it has reported on, is the inexactitude of many of the terms and concepts that we use in discussing retail change. Going beyond that, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Bill Grimsey, Community, ESRC, High Streets, Local Data Company, Mary Portas, PhD, Places, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Blame the REF

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

The week before Christmas saw Universities across the UK in a state of heightened anticipation. Santa, in the form of the REF results was due, and for a surprisingly large number of Universities it will continue to be the gift … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, ESRC, Government, Planning, Retail Planning, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pretty Vacant

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

              On the 2nd December we launched our second Retailing in Scotland’s Towns and Cities report, at what we hope will become an annual Retail Summit date in the calendar. Our partnership with the … Continue reading →

Posted in ESRC, Government, High Streets, Local Data Company, Longitudinal Data, PhD, Places, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Start-ups, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Social Science Perspectives on the High Street

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Leigh Sparks

Early in 2014, Neil Wrigley from the University of Southampton, invited myself and my colleague, Anne Findlay, to contribute two short chapters to a forthcoming collection of pieces exploring social science perspectives on the Evolving High Street. In particular he … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Closure, Community, Competition, Consumer Change, Data, ESRC, Government, High Streets, Online Retailing, Regeneration, Resilience, Retail Planning, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment