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
- About Leigh Sparks and this Blog
- Logistics and Retail Management 5th Edition
- Retail change and why we fell in love with supermarkets?
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
- Orkney - the Second Leg
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Grocery Market Shares in the UK 2020
- Checkout the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
- Predicting the Post-Covid Retail Landscape: presentation for Scottish Grocers Federation Cross Party Group
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Category Archives: Public Realm
Conversation Piece: High-street strategy: recovery will take more than street parties and more bins
On the 15th July, the UK Government published its new high street strategy for England “Build Back Better: High Streets”. I was asked by The Conversation to prepare a peice about the strategy, its links to Covid recovery and its … Continue reading
Posted in community wealth building, Festivals, Government, High Streets, Independents, Local Retailers, Mary Portas, Permitted Development Rights, Places, Planning, Policy, Public Policy, Public Realm, Regeneration, Regulation, Retailers, Retailing, Streetscapes, Town Centres
Tagged Build Back Better, Business rates, Communities, community wealth building, High Streets, Independent Retailing, Permitted Development Rights, Retailing, The Conversation, Town Centres
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Scotland’s Towns Conference 2019
One of the now established features of Scotland’s Towns Partnership and Scotland’s Towns Week is the Annual Conference. For many years it has been located in the Central Belt, but for 2019 it relocated to Aberdeen. There are many good … Continue reading
Posted in Aberdeen, Amsterdam, BIDS, Bids Scotland, Consumer Change, Cork, Creative Places, Development Trusts, Healthy Ageing, High Streets, Local Authorities, Localisation, Place Standard, Places, Policy, Public Realm, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailers, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Small Towns, Streetscapes, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban
Tagged Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Bids Scotland, Cork, Healthy Places, Localisation, Place Standard, Places, Planning, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Conference, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scotland's Towns Week
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Hull and Beyond
I’ve never knowingly been to Hull. It’s not that I’ve anything against Hull, just that the question of going there has never arisen. I became a little more aware of it when it owned the accolade as UK City … Continue reading
Posted in Art, BHS, Buildings, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Department Stores, Design, Historic Shops, History, Hull, Places, Public Realm, Regeneration, Retail History, Spaces, Uncategorized, Urban History
Tagged BHS Mural Hull, Boyson, Co-op, Culture, Heritage, Hull, Mosaic, Public Art, Retail, Ships in the Sky, Three Ships
3 Comments
Shopfronts – some recent sightings
Some people have been a bad influence on me: @historicshops @KA_Morrison (see Building Our Past) and @ghostsigns spring to mind. Their encyclopaedic knowledge – and delight in and willingness to share – means that I am forever on the search … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Corporate branding, Corporate History, Design, Heritage, High Streets, Historic Shops, History, Places, Public Realm, Retail History, Shopfronts, Signage, Small Towns, Spaces, Streetscapes, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban History
Tagged Buildings, Ghostsigns, Heritage, History, Retail, Shopfronts, Signs, Streets, Tiles
2 Comments
Halifax – with Elephants
When I was 10 months old my father ‘forsake the amateur code’ (copyright Welsh Rugby Union) and ‘went north’, joining the Halifax professional rugby league team. This was a life changing decision in many ways for his family; not least … Continue reading
Posted in Buildings, Burtons, Corporate History, Design, Ghost Signs, Halifax, Heritage, Historic Shops, Markets, Places, Public Realm, Regeneration, Retail History, Rugby League, Streetscapes, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban History
Tagged Buildings, Burtons, Culture, Elephants, Halifax, Heritage, Markets, Piece Hall, Rugby League, Town Centres, Woolworths
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Retail Focused Funded PhD Available – Suburban Mobility: Shopping and Older People
A fully funded three year PhD is available for Autumn 2019 start. This research project explores features of the retail environment that enable older people to use local neighbourhood and high street shops as well as participate and keep mobile in … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Ageing, Architecture, Community, Consumers, Design, Health, Healthy Ageing, High Streets, Older consumers, PhD, Places, Planning, Public Realm, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopping, Streets, Streetscapes, Town Centre Living, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, University of Stirling
Tagged Access, Ageing, Community, Consumers, Design, Health, High Streets, Mobility, Neighbourhoods, Older People, PhD, PhD. Retail, Places, Shopping, University of Stirling
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The Future of Shopping Centres in Scotland’s Towns
There is no doubt that retailing is undergoing a major transformation. In popular press terms this is the ‘death of the high street’, a phrase which is wrong on so many levels; it is not the death and it is … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Government, High Streets, Kirkcaldy, Local Authorities, Malls, Paisley, Places, Policy, Public Realm, Regeneration, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Shopping Centres, Spaces, Streetscapes, Sustainable Development, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, University of Stirling
Tagged DWF, Future, High Street, Local Authorities, Malls, Paisley, Retailing, Revo, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Shopping Centres, Stockton
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Return to Sender? Deposit Return Schemes
I am in the fortunate position of being able to get involved in two Scottish Parliament Cross Party Groups; one on Towns and Town Centres linked to Scotland’s Towns Partnership, and one on Independent Convenience Stores linked to the Scottish … Continue reading
Posted in Community Grocer, Consumer Lifestyle, Convenience stores, Deposit Return Scheme, Food Retailing, Government, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Legislation, Local Retailers, Public Realm, Regulation, Retailers, Retailing, Returns, Reverse Vending, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Small Shops, Uncategorized, Vending Machines
Tagged Convenience stores, Deposit Return Scheme, independents, Recycling, Reverse Vending, Scotland, Scottish Gr, Small shops
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