Author: Leigh Sparks
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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
- Scotland's Shops and Shopfronts: history and future?
- Checkout the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
- Ten years on stirlingretail.com
- Screen Time? Cinemas and Town Centres
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- National Retail Planning Forum Papers 1998-2014
- The Co-operative Group Results 2021
- Hull and Beyond
- Retail Branding: it's not (just) private label
- London's Welsh Dairies: The Welsh Milk Trade
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Category Archives: Marks and Spencer
Stirling – Still All at C
I had no intention of adding to my last post about the perverse decision of Stirling Council to go against official recommendation and permit a new ASDA superstore on a greenfield site further out from Stirling than any other retail … Continue reading
Posted in Asda, Car Dependency, Climate Emergency, Closure, East Kilbride, Employment, Food Retailing, High Streets, Local Authorities, Marks and Spencer, Out of Town, Place Principle, Places, Planning, Politicians, Retail Planning, Social Inequality, Spatial Planning, Stirling, Stirling Council, Sustainability, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Asda, B&M, Car-dependency, Climate Emergency, Food Culture, Food retailing, Out of town retailing, Planning, Stirling, Stirling Council, Sustainability, Town Centres
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Oxford Street, Hull and Beyond
I have never really understood the fascination with Oxford Street as the retail heart of the UK. I get that there are some great buildings, but as a shopping street, though not a great streetscape, it has never worked for … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Campaigns, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Department Stores, Historic Shops, History, Hull, Marks and Spencer, Oxford Street, Places, Regeneration, Retail History, Streetscapes, Town Centres, Towns, Urban History
Tagged Alan Boyson, Architecture, Buildings, Cooperative Group, Department Stores, Heritage, History, Marks and Spencer, Modernism, Murals, Oxford Street, Retail, Ships in the Sky, Streetscapes, Town Centres
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Turning Around another Supertanker; Marks and Spencer
It has been a while since I have written about Tesco, Marmite excepting, and the last few times I did, I used the analogy of a supertanker and the relative slowness at which lumbering retail giants see their strategies take … Continue reading
A quiet few weeks in retailing (not)
The last few weeks have been really quiet in retailing – no, just kidding. What with Brexit – and the uncertainty it has generated – beginning to take hold in the markets, the unfolding BHS and Sports Direct scandals putting … Continue reading
Posted in administration, Asda, Brexit, Discounters, Food Retailing, Lidl, Marks and Spencer, My Local, Netto, Sainsbury, Sports Direct
Tagged administration, Asda, BHS, Discounters, Food retailing, Marks and Spencer, Netto, Retailing, Sainsbury
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Asa Briggs and Marks and Spencer
The other week the eminent social historian Asa Briggs died. Despite my not being an historian this was a name I knew. I came across his work when I wanted to look at aspects of the social history of the … Continue reading
Marks and Sparks
In the dim and distant past, when I first arrived at the University of Stirling, I was one of number of research follows and assistants involved in establishing the Institute for Retail Studies under the leadership of John Dawson. One … Continue reading
Sustainable Development by Retailers in Europe
In 1987 I went to Poland at the invitation of the British Academy/Polish Academy of Sciences. It was an interesting trip and we even published some quick reflections on the retailing we encountered in Warsaw and Krakow (see here). Fast … Continue reading
Thoughts on Tesco and M&S
The obvious cheap shot, unresisted by a number on social media so far today, is that whilst Tesco have revealed their Trading Statement for the last 19 weeks, we need to wait a while to see if these figures are … Continue reading
Christmas Past; Christmas Future?
With the Asda results due this week, the dust has sort of settled over Christmas trading. There are plenty of reports and coverage on the winners and loser based on sales and some evidence for some on the impacts on … Continue reading
Posted in Availability, Christmas, Consumer Change, Internet shopping, Marks and Spencer, Multichannel, PC World, Technology
Tagged Christmas, Internet, Sales, Service, showrooming
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Multi-channel Vision?
In my catch-up from being away, I saw a piece in Retail Week (7 September 2012, p32-34, M&S’s multichannel vision) which I wanted to read and consider at more length. Years ago, some of us were asked about the effects … Continue reading
Posted in Consumer Change, Design, Marks and Spencer, Multichannel
Tagged e-commerce, Marks and Spencer, Multichannel, store design, technology
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