Author: Leigh Sparks
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May 2023 – Two new articles and a book chapter noted on the Journal Articles page
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)
Top Posts & Pages
- Public Health, Taxation and Food Retailing
- Transformative Food Retailing, Data and Consumers
- The Buttercup Dairy Company
- London's Welsh Dairies: The Welsh Milk Trade
- Food, health and data: developing transformative food retailing
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- Internet sales as a percentage of retail sales in the UK
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Turmoil at Tesco
- Grocery Market Shares in the UK 2020
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Category Archives: Rents
“Soaring Vacancies” : perhaps or perhaps not?
The end of last week saw headlines about the number of vacant shops in Scotland. Typical Scottish newspaper examples included: The Herald The Scotsman So, something of a downer to end the first week out of lockdown in Scotland and … Continue reading
Posted in BRC, Consumers, Covid19, Data, Independents, Local Data Company, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Places, Rates, Rents, Retail Change, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retailing, Shop Numbers, Shopping, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Vacancies
Tagged British Retail Consortium, Consumer Confidence, Consumers, Covid-19, Data, independents, Local Data Company, Lockdown, Pandemic, Retailing, Scotland, Shops, Vacancies
1 Comment
Aberdeen, No More?
The Covid pandemic has hit retailing hard. Government support (though important) has in no way matched the lost sales and business. Previous trends have been accelerated, most notably in terms of online sales. Retailers of all shapes and sizes have … Continue reading
Posted in 1960s, Aberdeen, Architecture, Bids Scotland, Buildings, City Centres, Closure, Consumers, Cooperatives, Covid19, Department Stores, Internet shopping, John Lewis Partnership, Lockdown, Norco, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Rates, Regulation, Rents, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopping, Social value, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Waitrose
Tagged Aberdeen, Architecture, Brutalism, Business Improvement Districts, City Centres, Consumers, Covid-19, Department Stores, John Lewis, John Lewis Partnership, Norco, Online sales, Retail costs, Retailing, Scotland's Towns, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group
2 Comments
Shopping with Confidence?
Three months on and the great unlocking has begun in earnest. No more testing your eyesight, it’s now about testing your bank balance – in Northern Ireland and England to begin with, Wales today and then Scotland. “Non-essential” stores are … Continue reading
Posted in Consumers, Lockdown, Non-food retailing, Rents, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Consumers, Covid-19, England, Lockdown, Non-essential shops, Opening Hours, Retail Sales, Safe Shopping, Scotland, Shops, towns
2 Comments
Retail Armageddon – Non Food
In my last post, I considered some of the best and worst behaviours we have seen in food retailing during the COVID-19 crisis to date. Now we have the Government lockdown and the splitting of retailing into essential and non-essential … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, Closure, Consumers, Covid19, CVA, Employment practices, Fashion, Government, Landlords, Online Retailing, Rents, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping Centres, Sports Direct, Suppliers, Uncategorized, Wetherspoons
Tagged closures, Consumers, Covid19, Footfall, Government, internet retailing, Landlords, Next, Non-food retailing, Rent, Retailing, Suppliers, Wetherspoons
4 Comments
Shops: More or Less (and #IndieHour)
This blog has a number of recurring themes – or nightmares. Most of them are focused around the themes of the mis-use of data, the lack of reaction about the structural change underway across retailing and the unwillingness of many … Continue reading
Posted in #IndieHour, Collaboration, Consumers, High Streets, Independents, Internet shopping, Landlords, Online Retailing, Reinvention, Relationships, Rents, Retail Change, Retailers, Small Shops, Start-ups, Towns, Uncategorized, University of Stirling, Vibrancy
Tagged #IndieHour, Consumers, Costs, independents, Landlords, Online, Retail, Retail growth, Space, stores
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Towns and Town Centres in Scotland: reflections six years on from Fraser
I was recently asked to do a 10 minute reflection on the state of towns and town centres in Scotland and the work that has derived from the Fraser Review (the National Review of Town Centres) and from Scotland’s Towns Partnership. … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Bids Scotland, Consumer Change, Consumer Lifestyle, Creative Places, Development Trusts, Government, High Streets, Internet shopping, Local Authorities, Mary Portas, Online Retailing, Place Standard, Places, Planning, Policy, Rates, Regeneration, Reinvention, Rents, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailers, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Tax, TCRF, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Understanding Scottish Places
Tagged Digital tax, Fraser review, Place Standard, Portas, Rates, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centre Review, Understanding Scottish Places, VAT
4 Comments
Poundland and Sports Direct
It has always baffled me; if Poundland lived up to its name and everything was a pound, then why was the average basket size not a round pound number? Anyhow it is a moot point now. The announcement that Poundland … Continue reading
Posted in Accounting, administration, Auditors, Closure, Department Stores, Finance, Government, House of Fraser, Jack Wills, Landlords, Mike Ashley, Poundland, Pressure, Pricing, Rents, Retail Failure, Retailers, Retailing, Sports Direct, Strategy, Uncategorized
Tagged Accounting, Auditors, Fixed Price, High Street, House of Fraser, Jack Wills, Poundland, Retail, Sports Direct, Tax
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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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Debenhams and Tesco
It is necessary to start this blog post by reflecting that underneath the news stories and headlines are real personal stories in which individuals are losing their jobs. Too often it is easy to focus on the store closure and … Continue reading
Posted in administration, Consumer Choice, Consumers, CVA, Debenhams, Department Stores, Employees, Rates, Rents, Retail Change, Retail Failure, Sports Direct, Store Closures, Uncategorized
Tagged administration, Customers, Debenhams, Department Stores, Jobs, Mike Ashley, Sports Direct, Store Closures, Tesco
6 Comments
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