Author: Leigh Sparks
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May 2021 – Journal Articles page updated with two new academic papers in Planning, Theory and Practice, and Sustainability, joining our Ageing & Society paper
March 2021 – Personal Biography redesigned and updated
January 2021 – Updates of Media Commentary and Journal Articles page structures
Top Posts & Pages
- Changing Scotland's Towns
- Grocery Market Shares in the UK 2020
- Town Centres in Wales: Bounded Muscularity?
- Grocery Market Shares in Great Britain 1997-2021
- Brexit isn't Delivering
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
- Retail Thought Leadership
- Research Projects
- Scottish and Online Retail Sales in Lockdown
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Category Archives: Property
Stopping Doing Harm to our Town Centres
The Town Centre Action Plan Report (A New Future for Scotland’s Towns) has three types of recommendations. Two of these are reasonably uncontroversial – planning, engaging more local people property and data on towns on the one hand and funding … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Emergency, Community, Government, High Streets, Housing, Internet, Local Authorities, Offices, Out of Town, Places, Property, Public Policy, Rates, Regeneration, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Social Inequality, Social Justice, Social Renewal, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Business rates, Climate Emergency, Community, community wealth building, Housing, Local Authorities, Offices, Out of Town, Parking, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Social Renewal, Taxation, Town Centre Action plan, town centre first, Town Centre Review, Town Centres
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Landlords vs Retailers or Zombies vs Aliens?
There are not many reasons for feeling sorry for Philip Green (see my earlier blogs here here and here and those were before the latest American and other revelations), but the fact that he is in such a weakened state … Continue reading
Posted in Advertising, Arcadia, Closure, CVA, Inter-depenendencies, Landlords, management, Philip Green, Property, Rates, Rents, Retail Change, Store Closures, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Advertising, Arcadia, CVA, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, failure, Landlords, Leases, Philip Green, Property, Rent, Retailing, Sale
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The Next Ten Years of Grocery Retailing?
Given we are less than 10 weeks away from Brexit and the possible end of the grocery world as we know, writing a post about retailing a decade ahead seems foolhardy (spoiler alert; it is). But bear with me. Let’s … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, Asda, Brexit, Competition, Consumer Change, Customer engagement, Food Retailing, Property, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Failure, Sainsbury, Store Closures, Tesco, Uncategorized
Tagged Asda, Brexit, Competition, Customer, Grocery, Innovation, McKinsey, Property, Sainsbury, Tesco
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Yours for £1 (not really)
It was an eye-catching gimmick, and it did the job, getting media coverage (and me onto the radio (again)). In early February, at a London auction The Postings shopping centre in Kirkcaldy was put up for sale with a reserve … Continue reading
Posted in Buildings, Community, Community Development, Creative Places, Dumfries, High Streets, Kirkcaldy, Landlords, Localisation, Places, Property, Regeneration, Retail Change, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Shopping Centres, Town Centre Living, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Assets, Community Action, Dumfries, High Streets, Kirkcaldy, Landlords, Property, Retail, Shopping Centres, towns
2 Comments
Embracing Failure in the Shadow of Success
This post’s title is the sub-title from a book I recently read. It concerns Mick Channon Jnr and his relationship with his father, who he describes as “an arthritic workaholic grumpy old bastard” and only grudgingly as an ex England … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Bookmakers, Charity Shops, Closure, Consumer Lifestyle, Discounters, Heritage, High Streets, Local Retailers, Markets, Places, Planning, Pound Shops, Property, Regeneration, Retail Economy, Shopfronts, Social Inequality, Social Justice, Store Closures, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged Bookmakers, Books, Class, Community, Discounters, failure, Football, Gentrification, High Street, Horses, Pound shops, Retail, Retail Change, Success
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Analysing and Understanding Shopping Centres
One of the good things about being a Professor of Retail Studies is that you get to meet interesting people with interesting ideas. Over the last year or so I have been involved on some executive education with Bayfield Training … Continue reading
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
The Wonder of Woolies – continued
Just before Christmas I found myself in Brixton – as one does – and in wandering the streets passed by the H&M. As you might see from my photograph below, it is housed in a fine building. My immediate reaction … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Books, Buildings, High Streets, Historic Shops, Property, Public Realm, Retail History, Shopfronts, Streetscapes, Urban History, Woolworths
Tagged Architecture, Buildings, Design, History, Streets, Streetscapes, Woolworths
5 Comments
“Urban but not Anonymous”
With these words, Cord Soehlke, Mayor and Senior Planner for the University Town of Turbingen, Germany neatly summed up for me the differences and the challenges facing Scotland’s towns. As had been discussed earlier in the day at Scotland’s Towns … Continue reading
Posted in Falkirk, Government, High Streets, Places, Planning, Property, Public Realm, Regeneration, Reinvention, Retail Planning, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Small Towns, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Government, High Streets, Places, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Conference, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centres, Town Planning
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