Category Archives: Retail Change

Walking the Talk: Town Centres and Retailing in a Car-dominated Economy

Today (March 7th), I am presenting at a Living Streets Seminar.  I was asked to talk about retailing in car-dominated places and what follows is a summary of sorts (and the overheads) of my presentation. In responses to the climate … Continue reading

Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Active travel, Car Dependency, Car Parking, Car Use Reduction, Community, community wealth building, Consumers, Just Transition, Local Retailers, Neighbourhood, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Places, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Retailing, Stirling Council, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Town Centres | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Strange Things in Self-Service

My twitter timeline has been populated recently by photos of retailers doing, for me, some strange things with self-service tills.  These tills have popped up everywhere over the last decade and not always to universal acclaim.  B&Q and WH Smith … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Clothing, Consumers, Customer Service, Employment practices, Experiential, Functional Retailing, Marks and Spencer, Retail Change, Sainsbury, Self-checkout, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

2022: the stirlingretail.com year in retrospect

This time of the year I normally produce my last post and look back at the activity on the blog during the calendar year. My reviews for 2020 and 2021 covered the two years with the most visitors the site … Continue reading

Posted in 1977, Bristol Pound, Cooperative Tokens, Department Stores, Food Retailing, Grocery, Local Authorities, Market Shares, MIlk, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Places, Planning, Retail Change, Retail History, Retail Strategy, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Stirling, Stirling Council, Tesco, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Urban History, Who Owns Scotland? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Who Owns Scotland’s Towns, High Streets and Shopping Centres?

One of the issues raised in the recent report by the Economy and Fair Work Committee of the Scottish Parliament concerned the lack of transparency over the ownership of much of the property in Scotland. I noted this in the … Continue reading

Posted in Community Ownership, Dumfries, Government, High Streets, Landlords, Legislation, Local Authorities, Midsteeple Quarter, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Out of Town, Place Based Investment Programme, Retail Change, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Shopping Centres, Streets, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Urban, Vacancies, Who Owns Scotland? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

An Inquiry into Retail and Town Centres in Scotland

In January 2022 the Economy and Fair Work Committee of the Scottish Parliament began its preparation and work into its “Inquiry into Retail and Town Centres in Scotland”.  As this blog has covered before, I gave evidence to the Inquiry … Continue reading

Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Barclay Review, BIDS, High Streets, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Non-domestic rates, Out of Town, Place Based Investment Programme, Place Principle, Retail Change, Retail Strategy, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Scotland’s Towns Conference 2022

Three long years after the last such event, we were finally able to host Scotland’s Towns Conference in person. On Wednesday 16th November a sell-out crowd of over 220 people made their way to the impressive Centrestage in Kilmarnock (Scotland’s … Continue reading

Posted in Community, Community Assets, community wealth building, Creative Places, Digital, High Streets, Land Use Planning, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Places, Retail Change, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Streets, Streetscapes, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Retailing, Towns and Healthy Ageing

Today (27th October), the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC-UK) and the University of Stirling are hosting an (online and physical) event on “How can retailers keep us healthy?” with an emphasis on Spending with Dementia – making the high streets … Continue reading

Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, Consumer Change, Consumers, Cost of Living, Covid19, Diaries, Health, Healthy Ageing, Healthy Living, High Streets, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Places, Retail Change, Retail Policy, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping, Town Centres, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Then there were three?

British grocery retailing has for decades been dominated by a small number of large and powerful retailers. That remains the case. Over the period however the number of firms involved has altered. In the 1980s we talked about the “big … Continue reading

Posted in Aldi, Asda, Brands, CMA, Cost of Living, Discounters, Food Retailing, Grocery, Kantar, Lidl, Market Shares, Morrisons, Retail brands, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Sainsbury, Tesco | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Grocery Market Shares in Great Britain (GB) 1997-2022

It’s July and that can only mean one thing – it is time to update the grocery market share data for Great Britain. Forget global warming and the heatwave and the cost-of-living crisis (not really for either), this is the … Continue reading

Posted in Asda, Brands, Consumers, Cooperative Group, Cost of Living, Covid19, Discounters, Food Retailing, Grocery, Inflation, Kantar, Lidl, Market Shares, Morrisons, Pandemic, Private brands, Private Label, Retail brands, Retail Change, Retailers, Sainsbury, Tesco | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Why is Historical Research Important in Marketing?

A couple of years ago I was invited by a good friend of mine to contribute to an inaugural special issue of a journal. Professor Kazuo Usui (Saitama Gakuen University), a frequent visitor to Stirling and Edinburgh (where he is … Continue reading

Posted in Academics, Consumer Change, Consumers, Data, Diaries, Food Retailing, History, Retail Change, Retail History, Retailers, Shopping | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment