Author: Leigh Sparks
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February 2023 – New piece for The Conversation on online retailing (see commentaries tab)
January 2023 – Roll over of some areas for new year, plus The Conversation piece on Christmas trading updates published (see commentaries tab) and main posts
December 2022 – End of year tidying up and re-arrangement, including link to EDAS podcast on places and towns (see presentations tab)
April 2022 -new journal article published (Journal Articles page) on Twenty-One Years of Going Shopping and Marketing History
Top Posts & Pages
- Personal Announcement: FRSE
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- Retail Branding: it's not (just) private label
- Scotland's Shops and Shopfronts: history and future?
- Locavore's Bigger Plan
- Economic Trends in the Retail Sector, Great Britain: 1989 to 2021
- Strange Things in Self-Service
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Internet sales as a percentage of retail sales in the UK
- The Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels
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Category Archives: Reinvention
Clapped Out
The last two weeks of June saw a mammoth effort in the University of Stirling to catch up on graduation events for our 2020 and 2021 cohorts as well as our 2022 graduands. Ten ceremonies over the two weeks saw … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Architecture, Buildings, Campus Central, Design, Places, Reinvention, RICS, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Design Awards, University of Stirling
Tagged Campus Central, Graduation, Page\Park, RICS, Robertson, Scottish Design Awards, University of Stirling
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Reclaim the High Street – Midsteeple Quarter, Dumfries Crowdfunder
Community ownership of assets breathing new life into centres across Scotland has been a theme, and a success of recent years. There is still much more to be done, and it needs to be made easier and simpler, but we … Continue reading
Posted in Carnegie UK Trust, Community, Community Assets, Community Ownership, Development Trusts, Dumfries, Local Authorities, Midsteeple Quarter, Places, Regeneration, Reinvention, Resilience, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Planner, Small Shops, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Buildings, Community Assets, Community owernship, Crowdfunder, Dumfries, High Street, Midsteeple Quarter, Redevelopment, town centre
1 Comment
2020 on the Blog – a reflection
Stirlingretail.com began in 2011. It was born out of a desire to provide a home for common questions about Scottish retailing and a space for me to make comments and cite some evidence and stuff, so as to save me … Continue reading
Posted in 2020, Armageddon, BRC, Bristol Pound, Competition, Consumer Change, Cooperative Tokens, Cooperatives, Covid19, Food Retailing, Grocery, Historic Shops, Lockdown, Market Shares, Non-Essential Retailing, Places, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Economy, Retail Failure, Retail History, Retailers, Retailing, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged 2020 Retail, Covid-19, Footfall, Lockdowns, Pandemic, Retail History, Retailing, Review, Shopping, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, towns, UK Grocery market
4 Comments
Commuting and Retailing in Town Centres
It is not an unusual state of mind these days, but I am puzzled over a couple of things that have been the topic of discussions (or in the first case the media as well) I have been in over … Continue reading
Posted in Cities, Commuting, Decentralisation, Government, Localisation, Places, Reinvention, Retail Parks, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping, Stirling, Sustainability, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged Cities, Co-working spaces, Coffee Shops, Commuting, Decentralisation, Offices, Retailing, Town Centres, towns
1 Comment
Build Back Better: Bill Grimsey and Covid
When Mary Portas produced her report for the UK Government on high streets, Bill Grimsey was quick to posit an alternative and to focus on leadership and technology for places. His report and its follow-up a few years later have … Continue reading
Posted in Bill Grimsey, CLES, Community, Consumers, Covid19, Government, High Streets, Leadership, Local Authorities, Mary Portas, Places, Proactive Planning, Public Policy, Regulation, Reinvention, Retail Change, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Social Justice, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Uncategorized
Tagged Build Back Better, CLES, Covid-19, Grimsey, High Streets, Leadership, Localism, Pandemic, Portas, Recovery, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Social Renewal, Suatainability, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centres
2 Comments
The Need for a Digital Tax
The origins of this post lie in early March when we were delighted, in what now seems another era, to host Helen Dickenson, the Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, at our Retail Futures event. She spoke on the … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, BRC, Competition, Covid19, Digital, High Streets, Internet, Internet shopping, Local Authorities, Online Retailing, Places, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Economy, Retail Policy, Retail Sales, Social Inequality, Social Justice, Spaces, Tax, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Amazon, BRC, Business rates, Covid19, Digital tax, High Streets, Online, Places, Retail Change, Retailing, Society, Tax, towns
1 Comment
What Should We Value about Retailing and Towns and What Should We Do About Them?
Apologies, this took a little longer and got a bit lengthier than I originally intended. “If they look beyond heroic individualism and accept that individuals exist in a network of social bonds and obligations, we might just see a … Continue reading
Posted in Community, Consumer Change, Consumers, Employment, Food, Food Banks, Food Retailing, Government, Grocery, Health, Healthy Living, High Streets, Independents, Leadership, Local Retailers, Non-food retailing, Places, Proactive Planning, Rates, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retail Planning, Retailing, Scottish Government, Shopping, Spaces, Streets, Streetscapes, Supply Chains, Tax, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban
Tagged Community, Food Banks, Food retailing, Government, Health and wellbeing, High Streets, Local, Non-food retailing, Out of town retailing, Places, Retailing, Sustainability, Taxation, Town Centres, towns
8 Comments
Retail Armageddon or Reinvention?
On the 3rd March, the University of Stirling, the Stirling Management School and the Institute for Retail Studies were very pleased to host the Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, Helen Dickinson, OBE. In front of an audience of … Continue reading
Posted in Accounting, BRC, Brexit, Consumer Change, Employees, Government, Institute for Retail Studies, Internet shopping, Legislation, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Rates, Regeneration, Regulation, Reinvention, Retail brands, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Scottish Government, Scottish Grocers Federation, Scottish Retailing, Small Shops, Technology, Uncategorized, University of Stirling
Tagged Apprenticeships, Brexit, British Retail Consortium, Circular Economy, e-commerce, Institute for Retail Studies, Lily Blanche, Online retailing, Rates, Retail Crime, Retail Futures, Retail Reinvention, Retail Skills, Schuh, Scottish Grocers Federation, Tartan Twist, technology, University of Stirling, Wilkies
5 Comments
Shopping Centres and Town Centres in Scotland
The significance of shopping centres across Scotland is undeniable and has been the subject of interest for Scotland’s Towns Partnership (with REVO and DWF LLP), as this blog has noted before. Last week the same partners brought together a range … Continue reading
Posted in Consumer Change, Edinburgh, Government, Local Authorities, Malls, Paisley, Places, Regeneration, Reinvention, Retail Change, Retailers, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Shopping Centres, SNIB, Social value, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban, Vacancies
Tagged Edinburgh, Local Authorities, New river, Public Private Partnership, Retail Property, Revo, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish National Investment Bank, Shopping Centres, Social value, Town Centrres
4 Comments