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
- Herkku Food Market Delicatessen – Helsinki
- Shopping: the cost of living crisis - Q&A with The Conversation
- About Leigh Sparks and this Blog
- Grocery Market Shares in the UK 2020
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- Singapore Times
- Pontypool vs Penarth: Rugby and The High Street and Town of 1951
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- The Buttercup Dairy Company
- Queen Bees : Q-commerce, the on-demand world and the changing meaning of online retailing
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Category Archives: Pandemic
At the Heart of Economic Transformation? The City Centre Recovery Task Force Report
There can be little doubt that the pandemic has affected city centres to a far greater extent than many places. City centre businesses and organisations depend on residents, visitors, tourists and workers for their footfall and trade. When lockdowns occurred, … Continue reading
Posted in Aberdeen, Cities, City Centres, Consumer Change, Dundee, Edinburgh, Employment practices, Footfall, Glasgow, Local Authorities, Lockdown, Pandemic, Place Principle, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, Urban
Tagged City Centres, Covid-19, Data, Economic Recovery, Footfall, Pandemic, Productivity, Scotland, Scottish Cities Alliance, Scottish Government, Sustainability, Working from Home
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Scottish Retail Sales: Covid Impacts against the Long Term Data
The British/Scottish Retail Consortium has been producing its Scottish Retail Sales Monitor for a long time. I have been charting the results since last century (!) and have commented on the monthly figures in this blog before, for example here … Continue reading
Posted in BRC, Covid19, Food Retailing, Lockdown, Non-food retailing, Pandemic, Retail Sales, Retailers, Sales, Scotland, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retail Sales, Scottish Retailing
Tagged Covid19, Food retailing, Non-food retailing, Pandemic, Retailing, Scotland, scottish retail consortium, Scottish Retail Sales, Scottish Retail Sales Monitor
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2021 : the stirlingretail.com year in retrospect
My reflections this time last year noted that in the ten years of running this blog, 2020 had seen it attract the most visitors in a year. 2020 saw more than 70% more visitors than any previous year. Well, the … Continue reading
Posted in Aberdeen, Cooperative Tokens, Covid19, Food Retailing, History, John Lewis Partnership, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Pandemic, Public Policy, Retail Change, Retail History, Retail Policy, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Retailing, Social Renewal, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Covid-19, Food retailing, High Streets, Retail, Retail Change, Retail History, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centres, towns, University of Stirling
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Covid Variants, Retailing and this Christmas
A couple of weeks ago, I pondered putting together something again about the Christmas 2021 retail season. Whilst there were strains over supply and labour availability, retailing seemed set for something much more normal. At about the same time, the … Continue reading
Posted in Boxing Day, Brexit, Christmas, Cities, Consumers, Covid19, Government, Inflation, Internet shopping, Online Retailing, Opening Hours, Pandemic, Retailers, Supply Chains, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged Boxing Day, Brexit, Christmas, Cities, Consumer Confidence, Covid19, Footfall, Government, Inflation, internet retailing, Job vacancies, Pandemic, Retailing, Sales, Supply chains, towns
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Season’s Greetings
As Chair of Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP) I get to put a Christmas message in the final bulletin of the year which goes out to members. This is an appropriate opportunity to reflect briefly on the last year generally and … Continue reading
Posted in Bids Scotland, Community, Covid19, Gift Card, Localisation, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Pandemic, Place Based Investment Programme, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Christmas, Communities, NPF4, Pandemic, Place Based Investment Programme, Scotland, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns Partnership, towns
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Retail Impact Assessments: Time for a Rethink?
This is the second in a linked series of posts. The next one reflects on existing out-of-town developments and what we need to do about them. The first was on the draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4). In that post … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, community wealth building, Consumer Change, Convenience, Convenience stores, Home Delivery, Internet shopping, Land Use Planning, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Pandemic, Places, Planning, Public Policy, Retail Change, Retail Impact Assessments, Retail Planning, Retail Policy, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Planner, Scottish Retailing, Sequential Approach, Spatial Planning, Town & Country PLanning, town centre first, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Climate Emergency, Convenience Retailing, Home Delivery, In Home Eating, Land Use Planning, Local Authorities, NPF4, Online shopping, Out of town impacts, Out of town retailing, Pandemic, Place Principle, Planning, Retail Impact Assessments, Retailing, Scottish Government, Sequential Approach, Town Centres, towns
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Scotland’s Community Retailers – SLR Awards 2021
The last year has been one like no other and the contribution of community retailers across Scotland has been one of the outstanding and life-affirming stories to come out of the pandemic. Last week Scottish Local Retailer recognised this through … Continue reading
Posted in Community, Community Grocer, Consumers, Convenience stores, Food Retailing, Local Retailers, Pandemic, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scottish Local Retailer, Scottish Retailing
Tagged Awards, Community Retailers, Convenience Retailing, Pandemic, Scotland, Scottish Local Retailer
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St James Quarter – curating and change
Last week saw the opening of parts of the St James Quarter in Edinburgh. Conceived a long time ago, and without any conception of the possibilities and impact of a global pandemic, the centre is in some ways of a … Continue reading
Posted in Aberdeen, BIDS, City Centres, Edinburgh, John Lewis Partnership, Pandemic, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scottish Retailing, Shopping Centres, St James Quarter, Uncategorized
Tagged Aberdeen, Aberdeen Inspired, BIDs, City Centres, Commuting, Edinburgh, John Lewis, Pandemic, Princes St, Retail Change, St James Quarter, Tourism
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Towns, High Streets and Resilience: A Question for Policy?
“It is all too easy to talk about “bouncing back to where we were” without asking which “we” is counted and without asking whether “where we were” is a place to which a return is desirable”. (Vale, 2014, p198) Some … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Academics, CLES, Community, community wealth building, Covid19, Government, High Streets, Pandemic, Public Policy, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Social Renewal, Sustainability, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, Academic papers, Bouncing Back, Community, community wealth building, Covid-19, High Streets, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Pandemic, Policy, Resilience, Retailing, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Town Centres, Scotland's Towns, Scottish Government, Sustainability, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centres, Towns. Vulnerability, Urban Retail Systems
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