Author: Leigh Sparks
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April 2022 -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
- Shopping: the cost of living crisis - Q&A with The Conversation
- London's Welsh Dairies: The Welsh Milk Trade
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- A Retail Strategy for Scotland
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
- Departing Stores and Place Vandalism
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- Grocery Market Shares in the UK 2020
- The Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels
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Category Archives: Festivals
Conversation Piece: High-street strategy: recovery will take more than street parties and more bins
On the 15th July, the UK Government published its new high street strategy for England “Build Back Better: High Streets”. I was asked by The Conversation to prepare a peice about the strategy, its links to Covid recovery and its … Continue reading
Posted in community wealth building, Festivals, Government, High Streets, Independents, Local Retailers, Mary Portas, Permitted Development Rights, Places, Planning, Policy, Public Policy, Public Realm, Regeneration, Regulation, Retailers, Retailing, Streetscapes, Town Centres
Tagged Build Back Better, Business rates, Communities, community wealth building, High Streets, Independent Retailing, Permitted Development Rights, Retailing, The Conversation, Town Centres
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The Big Show (Y Sioe Fawr)
A few weeks ago I attended the Royal Welsh Show (Y Sioe Fawr) at Llanelwedd/Builth Wells. For a number of years I have been to the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston and have always thought it to be a large … Continue reading
Posted in Farmers Markets, Festivals, Food and Beverage, Food Quality, Food Retailing, Markets, Producers, Rates, Retail Economy, Retailers, Rural, Sustainability, Tax
Tagged Festivals, Food, Food Culture, Lampeter, Ludlow, Rates, Retail, Royal Welsh Show, Specialist retailers
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Gardens and Gin
I sometimes wonder what visitors make of Scotland. When I first moved up we did a lot of the tourist things, as people and family visited, but as life goes on it is all too easy to look to further … Continue reading
Posted in Alcohol, Architecture, Buildings, Community, Distillery, Edinburgh, Festivals, Gardens, Gin, Historic Shops, Royal Mile, Scotland Food and Drink, Spaces, Urban History
Tagged Distillery Tours, Edinburgh, Gardens, Gin, Pickerings, Royal Mile, Walking Tours
2 Comments
Market Time
I suspect that my interest in markets was sparked at a young age when my father would take me to the livestock market and my mother would take me to the open-air market (Cheapside) and to the covered food market, … Continue reading
Posted in Christmas, Experiential, Farmers Markets, Festivals, Food, Krakow, London, Markets, Places, Spaces, Streetscapes, Urban History
Tagged Christmas, Entrepreneurs, Food, Krakow, London, Markets
2 Comments
Lampeter Food Festival
As I noted in my last post, I was based down in Wales for personal reasons for much of July. It did however allow me to return to Lampeter, the small West Walian town where I spent almost four years … Continue reading
Posted in Festivals, Food, Food Retailing, High Streets, organic, Retail Economy, Rural, Town Centres
Tagged Festivals, Food, Food retailing, High Streets, Lampeter, Market Towns, Retail Change, Rural, Town Centres, Transition
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The Conversation: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Silver Linings
The University of Stirling is a supporter of The Conversation, and I recently had a commentary published there. I reblog it here. ’Tis the season to spend, spend, spend … or so retailers would have us think By Leigh Sparks, … Continue reading
Singapore Times
As regular readers of this blog already know, the Institute for Retail Studies at the University of Stirling has had programmes and partners in Singapore for a long time, targeted both at Singaporean students and retailers and those in the … Continue reading
Business Improvement Districts: Gatherings and Huddles
As I have written before, in reading this post you have to remember that I am a Board Member of BIDs (Business Improvement Districts) Scotland and thus believe they have a role to play in Scotland and in Scotland’s town … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Entrepreneurship, Festivals, Food Retailing, Food Tourism, Heritage, Innovation, Markets, Places, Scotland Food and Drink, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Town Centre Review, Town Centres
Tagged Archeology, BIDs, Food and Drink, Innovation, Scotland, Town Centre Action plan
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“Whose Town is it Anyway?” Reflections on Scotland’s Towns Conference
Take one minister (no, not of the Co-operative Methodist type), a couple of passionate key note presenters and well over 100 people mainly from across Scotland, wanting, willing and able to share their town stories and opportunities and you get … Continue reading
Shock and Awe
I am too young to be an ageing hippie – honest. And I certainly no longer have the hair for it. But a few nights ago we went to the Neil Young and Crazy Horse show in Glasgow. Growing up … Continue reading
Posted in Festivals, Merchandising, Music, Retailing, Sport, Tourism, USA
Tagged Events, Merchandising, Music, Retailing
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