Category Archives: Legislation

Return to Sender? Deposit Return Schemes

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

I am in the fortunate position of being able to get involved in two Scottish Parliament Cross Party Groups; one on Towns and Town Centres linked to Scotland’s Towns Partnership, and one on Independent Convenience Stores linked to the Scottish … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Grocer, Consumer Lifestyle, Convenience stores, Deposit Return Scheme, Food Retailing, Government, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Legislation, Local Retailers, Public Realm, Regulation, Retailers, Retailing, Returns, Reverse Vending, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Small Shops, Uncategorized, Vending Machines | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Policy Interventions for Healthier Diets: Insights from Scotland

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Leigh Sparks

Last week I was in Helsinki at the invitation of Hannu Saarijarvi to present two sessions to selected Finnish Ministries and to the S-Group. As noted before in this blog I have co-authored a book chapter with Hannu and Sonja … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer Lifestyle, Cooperatives, Diet and Health, Food Retailing, Food Standards, Government, Health, Healthcare Retail Standard, Healthy Living, Labelling, Legislation, Loyalty Schemes, Policy, Retail Policy, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scottish Government, Social Inequality, Uncategorized, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Damaged Goods

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Leigh Sparks

As Private Eye put it, serialised exclusively across all newspapers, this book says that Philip Green is not a nice person.  “Quelle surprise” as they may say in Croydon.  But on the other hand, Oliver Shah is the Sunday Times … Continue reading →

Posted in BHS, Employees, Finance, Government, Leadership, Legislation, Pensions, Philip Green, Politicians, Regulation, Retail Failure, Retail leadership, Shareholders, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Barclay Review

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Leigh Sparks

A few weeks have now passed since the publication of the much anticipated Barclay Review of Non Domestic Rates in Scotland.  I was away at the time and did not get much sense of how it was received, though did … Continue reading →

Posted in Barclay Review, Buildings, Closure, Government, Internet, Legislation, Online Retailing, Policy, Property, Rates, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Small Business Bonus Scheme, Small Shops, Tax, Town Centres, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Fight Time? The Boxing Day Petition

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Leigh Sparks

The issue of opening hours for shops is something that has been an ever-present during my time as an academic.  The product-based absurdities of the late 1970s and early 1980s were eventually swept away as opening hours were modernised and … Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Black Friday, Boxing Day, Campaigns, Christmas, Consumer Lifestyle, Cyber Monday, Employees, Employment, Employment practices, Government, Internet shopping, Legislation, Online Retailing, Opening Hours, Petitions, Regulation, Small Shops, Supermarket | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Women Charged More on the High Street

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Leigh Sparks

Last week there was a media flurry about the The Times report that women are routinely charged more for similar or essentially the same items by some retailers. This “BIC for her” phenomenon seems to be more prevalent than thought. … Continue reading →

Posted in Brands, Consumers, Discriminatory Pricing, High Streets, Legislation, Pricing, Retailers, Sexism, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Any Given Sunday?

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

Well, the first Conservative UK budget for 18 years has been and gone, and no doubt retailers are beginning to assess what it all means for them. That might be tough given the lack of some details, some rabbits that … Continue reading →

Posted in Association of Convenience Stores, Consumers, Government, Independents, Legislation, Localisation, Part-time working, Planning, Profits, Rates, Regulation, Retail Policy, Retailers, Scottish Government, Sunday Trading, Wages | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Are Retailers For?

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Leigh Sparks

My recent visit to Poland and the symposium on sustainable development discussion brought back memories from my first visit to Poland in 1987 and discussions we had there around retail location and the purpose of retailing. In that not quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Diet and Health, Legislation, Plastic Bags, Retail Levy, Scotland, Scottish Government, Tobacco | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment