Author: Leigh Sparks
-
Follow me on Twitter
My TweetsPage Updates
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?
- Brexit isn't Delivering
- Grocery Market Shares in Great Britain 1997-2021
- A Lidl Surprise?
- Retail Disruptors - the spectacular rise and impact of the hard discounters
- London's Welsh Dairies: The Welsh Milk Trade
- Scottish and Online Retail Sales in Lockdown
- Webinar: "A New Future for Scotland's Town Centres"
Writing About ...
Archives
- Follow Stirlingretail on WordPress.com
Blogroll
Meta
RSS Feed
Category Archives: Retail Failure
Discount Food Stores in the UK: Kwik Save and Shoprite
Following on the recent post on Axe Stores, I have dug out some of my early slides on Kwik Save and Shoprite and their stores. I have written academically on both of these companies, quite some time ago. For anyone … Continue reading
Posted in Albert Gubay, Aldi, Axe Stores, Bridge of Allan, Cooperatives, Discounters, Food Retailing, Kwik Save, Lidl, Netto, Retail Failure, Retail History, Retailers, Shoprite, Wm Low
Tagged Albert Gubay, Aldi, Axe Stores, Bridge of Allan, Co-operative Group, Discounters, Isle of Man, Kwik Save, Lidl, Netto, Retail History, Shoprite, UK Food Retailing
Leave a comment
Axe Stores (this is a description not an instruction)
At the end of July I received an email from a freelance journalist, Steve Cain, seeking any information on Food Giant and Axe Stores. In normal times I know I had material somewhere in my office on Food Giant. But … Continue reading
Posted in Aldi, Axe Stores, Closure, Corporate History, Discounters, Food Retailing, Hintons, Historic Shops, International Retailing, Kwik Save, Laws Stores, Lidl, PAM Group, Retail Failure, Retail History, Retailers, Retailing
Tagged Axe Stores, Corporate History, Discount Stores, Food Giant, Food retailing, Hintons, Italy, Laws Stores, Manchester Business School, PAM Group, Retail History, retail internationalisation, Retailing, Store Closures, Uk Retailing
7 Comments
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
1 Comment
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
Leave a comment
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
Vacancies and Store Closures
Over the last few years, vacancies and store closures have not been out of the news. Whilst vacancy levels may have dropped off from their peak a few years ago, there is a continuation of stories about the closure rates … Continue reading
Posted in Closure, Competition, Consumer Change, Government, High Streets, Local Data Company, Places, Public Realm, Retail Change, Retail Economy, Retail Failure, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Shop Numbers, Store Closures, Tax, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Vacancies
Tagged futures, High Streets, Local Data Company, Places, PwC, Rates, Retail, Scotland, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Shop Closures, Tax, Town Centres, Vacancies
2 Comments
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
Leave a comment
#Woolies10
I was out at the country on the tenth ‘anniversary’ of the closure of the last Woolworths store in the UK – 6th January to be exact. I had already contributed to an element of the ‘celebration’/‘remembrance’, so didn’t feel … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Churn, Closure, Consumers, Corporate History, Ghost Signs, Heritage, High Streets, Historic Shops, History, Pound Shops, Poundland, Retail Failure, Shopfronts, Store Closures, Streetscapes, Towns, Uncategorized, Urban History, Woolworths
Tagged Churn, closures, Employees, failure, Heritage, High Streets, History, Pound shops, Retail Change, Retail Nostalgia, South Africa, stores, Streetscape, Woolworths
1 Comment
HMV – predictable or what?
125 stores, 2200 direct employees, an unknown number of individuals and businesses also linked to, and supplying, the company; the administration and likely demise of HMV would be problematic at any time but between Christmas and New Year it has … Continue reading
Posted in administration, Amazon, Boxing Day, Closure, Competition, Consumer Change, Customer Service, Government, High Streets, HMV, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Rates, Record stores, Retail Change, Retail Failure, Tax, Technology, Timpsons, Town Centres, Uncategorized
Tagged administration, Amazon, Boxing Day, Business rates, Christmas, Christmas trading, Digital, HILCO, HMV, Internet, Music, Profits, Record shops, Sales, Streaming, Tax, technology, Timpson
Leave a comment
