-
Author: Leigh Sparks
-
Follow me on Twitter
My TweetsPage Updates
16.08.2018 New article added to the publications section
02.08.2018 Publications updated to include three new articles
12.07.2018 Our latest Trading Places column for Town & Country Planning is now available on the Trading Places section of this blog
Top Posts & Pages
- Town & Country Planning Journal (Trading Places Columns) 2012-2018
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
- Retail Threads in the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry - Sir Thomas Lipton
- Retail Branding: it's not (just) private label
- Perth - Past, Present, Future
- Trading Places: our Town and Country Planning Columns
- A Lidl Surprise?
- A Japanese Eataly? In Singapore?
Writing About ...
Archives
- Follow Stirlingretail on WordPress.com
Blogroll
Meta
RSS Feed
Category Archives: Places
Trading Places: our Town and Country Planning Columns
In 2012 Anne Findlay and I attempted to take over from Professor Cliff Guy who had provided the Trading Places columns in Town and Country Planning for 12 years. In the subsequent 6 years we have produced 23 columns, but … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Alcohol, BIDS, Bill Grimsey, Bookmakers, Consumer Change, Consumers, Farm Shops, Food Retailing, Government, High Streets, Internet shopping, Mary Portas, Places, Planning, Pop-Up Shops, Proactive Planning, Rates, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Parks, Retail Planning, Retail Policy, Social Inequality, Town & Country PLanning, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Uncategorized
Tagged BIDs, Bookmakers, Business rates, Consumer change, Farm Shops, High Streets, Obesity, Planning, Pop-Up Shops, Rates, Retail, Retail Change, retail parks, Retail Planning, TCPA, Town and Country Planning, Town Centres
Leave a comment
Orkney – the Second Leg
Our recent visit to Orkney was not meant to be about retailing or shops, but inevitably just wandering around Stromness and Kirkwall one can’t help but look at the retailing. As I noted in the earlier blog, the overwhelming sense … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art Deco, Environmental Quality, Ghost Signs, High Streets, Historic Shops, History, Orkney, Places, Planning, Post Offices, Regeneration, Retail History, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopfronts, Signage, Small Towns, Streets, Streetscapes, Stromness, Towns
Tagged Art Deco, Design, Fascias, Fugaccia, Ghostsigns, History, Orkney, Retail History, Retail Stores, Shopfronts, Soda Fountain, Stromness
Leave a comment
HoF: House of Fools?
Thursday’s much trailed announcement that House of Fraser was aiming to close 31 of its 59 stores in the UK and was seeking large rent reductions on those that remain, all as part of a seemingly contested CVA, was the … Continue reading
Posted in BHS, Buildings, Cardiff, Consumer Change, Costs, CVA, Department Stores, Edinburgh, High Streets, Historic Shops, Internet shopping, Jenners, John Lewis Partnership, Online Retailing, Oxford Street, Places, Retail Change, Retail Failure, Town & Country PLanning, Town Centres, Urban History
Tagged Cardiff, closures, CVA, Department Stores, Edinburgh, History, House of Fraser, Jenners, management, Rates
Leave a comment
Orc-(k)nee
There has been a lot of doom and gloom around in the last few weeks about the state of retail and high streets across the country. There is clearly a new changed set of circumstances around consumer behaviours and the … Continue reading
Posted in Community, Cooperative Group, Creative Places, Environmental Quality, Food Tourism, Heritage, High Streets, Independents, Lidl, Orkney, Personal, Places, Pound Shops, Poundland, Public Realm, Retail History, Scotland's Islands, Seafood, Small Shops, Small Towns, Stirling, Tourism, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, Urban History
Tagged History, Knee Caps, Local retail, Orkney, Tourism
3 Comments
Shops opening and expanding, queues outside: the High Street picture that’s not making the national news
I recently had an exchange with Iain Nicholson around media coverage of the high street. it followed my recent diatribe about data. I have known Iain for a few years and admired the work he has been doing in towns … Continue reading
Posted in Car Parking, Consumers, Creative Places, Government, High Streets, Independents, Local Retailers, Localisation, Oxfordshire, Places, Planning, Policy, Producers, Record stores, Retail Diversity, Retail Economy, Retailers, Small Shops, Small Towns, Spaces, town centre first, Town Centres, Towns, Vacancies
Tagged #indie, #morethanretail, Authors, Car Parking, Comics, Diversity, independents, Oxford Etsy, Oxfordshire, Planning, Positive Places, Rates, Records, Shops, town centre first, Town Centres, Town Teams, Vacancies
Leave a comment
“No Town Immune”: Data and reporting
On Tuesday afternoon, I was contacted by a journalist (Stephen Naysmith) from The Herald about the upcoming Local Data Company/PwC report on high streets. He sent me the (then) embargoed press release. I attach it here for those interested and … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Closure, Data, Government, High Streets, Independents, Internet, Local Data Company, Online Retailing, Places, Retail Failure, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retailing, SNP, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, Vacancies
Tagged Churn, closures, Data, failure, High Street, Local Data Company, Openings, PwC, Scotland, SNP, towns
2 Comments
Tartan Cents: Linking the Scottish Global Diaspora
The Scottish Diaspora is extensive and has an active engagement with Scotland. Having lived in the US and seen Highland Games and other Scottish links, this lineage and linkage is obviously tangible. It is also this weekend the 20th Anniversary … Continue reading
Posted in Buildings, Campaigns, Collaboration, Heritage, Places, Public Realm, Scotland, Scottish Diaspora Tapestry, Tartan Cents, Towns
Tagged Adam Smith, Carnegie, Crowd Funding, Diaspora, Dunfermline, Girvan, Heritage, Kirkcaldy, Patronicity, Pittencrieff, Places, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Spirit of scotland, Tartan Cents, towns, USA
Leave a comment
