Category Archives: Local Retailers

What Should We Value about Retailing and Towns and What Should We Do About Them?

Posted on April 29, 2020 by

Apologies, this took a little longer and got a bit lengthier than I originally intended.   “If they look beyond heroic individualism and accept that individuals exist in a network of social bonds and obligations, we might just see a … Continue reading →

Posted in Community, Consumer Change, Consumers, Employment, Food, Food Banks, Food Retailing, Government, Grocery, Health, Healthy Living, High Streets, Independents, Leadership, Local Retailers, Non-food retailing, Places, Proactive Planning, Rates, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Planning, Retailing, Scottish Government, Shopping, Spaces, Streets, Streetscapes, Supply Chains, Tax, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Changing Priorities? The End of the (Retail) World as We Knew It

Posted on April 14, 2020 by

In the last three posts I have looked at the food vs non-food dichotomy in retailing as COVID19 sweeps through the country.  The figures and situation are astonishing and something no-one predicted a few weeks/months ago. How do we make … Continue reading →

Posted in Availability, Community, Consumer Change, Consumer Choice, Consumers, Contactless, Convenience stores, Covid19, Food Retailing, Grocery, Independents, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Localisation, Non-food retailing, Online Retailing, Panic buying, Producers, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Small Shops, Supermarket, Suppliers, Supply Chains, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Christmas and more in March – but only for some

Posted on April 1, 2020 by

On the 31st March, Kantar released their data on the last four weeks of grocery sales and the figures were eye-watering, outperforming Christmas sales and periods. March was the biggest month of grocery sales in the UK ever recorded. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Christmas, Community Grocer, Consumer Change, Convenience stores, Covid19, Data, Food, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Kantar, Lidl, Local Retailers, Logistics, Non-food retailing, Online Retailing, Panic buying, Restaurants, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Sainsbury, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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

Feeding the (Potentially Rather Ill) Nation?

Posted on March 11, 2020 by

I am not an expert on viruses or their spread and have no knowledge of how/when/if Covid19 will develop in the UK. But I have done some work on retail supply chains and however it develops they are potentially about … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Covid19, Employees, Employment practices, Food Retailing, Frictionless, Government, Independents, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Panic buying, Retail leadership, Retailing, Supply Chains, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Retail Armageddon or Reinvention?

Posted on March 6, 2020 by

On the 3rd March, the University of Stirling, the Stirling Management School and the Institute for Retail Studies were very pleased to host the Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, Helen Dickinson, OBE.  In front of an audience of … Continue reading →

Posted in Accounting, BRC, Brexit, Consumer Change, Employees, Government, Institute for Retail Studies, Internet shopping, Legislation, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Rates, Regeneration, Regulation, Reinvention, Retail brands, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Retailing, Small Shops, Technology, Uncategorized, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Towns: Time for some good news

Posted on January 27, 2020 by

This blog has railed, far too often, at the dire coverage of high streets and towns.  Partial data, an agenda of failure, a lack of intelligence and thinking about what is being studied and a seemingly overwhelming desire to stigmatise … Continue reading →

Posted in "We" towns, Carnegie UK Trust, Community, Craft Town, Dumfries, Incredible Edible, Independents, Innovation, Local Retailers, Localisation, Places, Regeneration, Reinvention, Relationships, Totnes, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Place Based Loyalty

Posted on January 13, 2020 by

We have a new academic paper out – on place marketing and place based loyalty schemes (details at end of blog) – and in addition to wanting to say something about it, I felt the time was ripe for setting … Continue reading →

Posted in Bids Scotland, Data, Local Multiplier, Local Retailers, Localisation, Perth, Places, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Stirling, Uncategorized, University of Stirling, Urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scottish Business Rates: a Local and/or National Issue?

Posted on January 8, 2020 by

A fair degree of concern was whipped up in the run-up to the New Year by the vote in the Scottish Parliament to give local councils the ability to set non-domestic, i.e. business rates. This is not yet confirmed as … Continue reading →

Posted in Barclay Review, Bids Scotland, Government, Internet shopping, Legislation, Local Authorities, Local Retailers, Localisation, MSPs, Online Retailing, Rates, Regulation, Retail Levy, Retail Policy, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retailing, Small Business Bonus Scheme, Small Shops, Tax, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fighting Fit? Independent Convenience Stores and the Public Health Agenda

Posted on November 29, 2019 by

The last 2019 Cross Party Group for Independent Convenience Stores, held last week, was a cracker.  With all the excitement of the AGM (not really), it was almost too much to have three excellent presentations on retailing and the public … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Alcohol, Best Start Foods, Convenience stores, Cross Party Group, Deposit Return Scheme, Diet and Health, Food Retailing, Food Standards Scotland, Government, Healthcare Retail Standard, Healthy Living, Independents, Internet shopping, Legislation, Local Retailers, Politicians, Products, Regulation, Retail leadership, Retail Policy, Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Local Retailer, Scottish Retailing, Small Shops, Sugar Tax, Uncategorized, University of Stirling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment