Author: Leigh Sparks
-
Follow me on Twitter
My TweetsPage Updates
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
- Transformative Food Retailing, Data and Consumers
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- The architectural heritage of Montague Burton’s Art Deco shops
- Internet sales as a percentage of retail sales in the UK
- Retail Branding: it's not (just) private label
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
- Are Retailers Social Engineers?
- Food, health and data: developing transformative food retailing
- Strange Things in Self-Service
Writing About ...
Archives
-
Join 5,534 other subscribers
- Follow Stirlingretail on WordPress.com
Meta
Category Archives: Streets
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 A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Absentee Owners, Community, Community enterprise, Economy and Fair Work committee, Property, Retail, Scotland, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Streets, Tax, Tax Havens, Vacancies, Who Owns Scotland?
2 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 A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Climate Emergency, Community, community wealth building, Creative Towns, Digital Towns, Enterprising Communities, High Street Heroes, High Streets, National Planning Framework 4, NPF4, Places, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Towns Conference, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Streetscapes, Town Centre Living, Town Centres
2 Comments
Avenues to the Past: Stirling’s Historic Streets
This post is about an exhibition that has already closed. Sorry about that, but I did not get to see it until its penultimate day. It had only a three-week life, so I hope you forgive me. Avenues to the … Continue reading
Posted in Arcades, Architecture, Buildings, City Centres, Exhibitions, High Streets, Historic Shops, Places, Retailers, Stirling, Streets, Streetscapes, Town Centres, Towns, Urban History
Tagged Arcades, Architecture, Buildings, Exhibition, High Streets, History, Made in Stirling, Stirling, Streetscapes, Town Centres
Leave a 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 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
Leave a comment
“Destination High Street – Restoring Vibrancy to Scotland’s Towns”
The invitation from the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) and the Scottish Civic Trust was to present a keynote address to their conference on ‘Destination High Street’. As both Professor of Retail Studies and Chair, Scotland’s Towns Partnership I … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, BIDS, Buildings, Community, Community Development, Consumer Change, Consumer Lifestyle, Creative Places, Design, Development Trusts, Environmental Quality, Government, High Streets, Historic Shops, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Places, Public Realm, Rates, Retail Change, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Small Towns, Social Inequality, Streets, Streetscapes, Tax, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Understanding Scottish Places, Urban
Tagged Community, Consumers, Digital, Heritage, High Street, National Review of Town Centres, Places, Rates, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland's Town Centres, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Tax, Town Centres, Understanding Scottish Places
Leave a comment
Orkney – the Second Leg
Our recent visit to Orkney was not meant to be about retailing or shops, but inevitably just wandering around Stromness and Kirkwall one can’t help but look at the retailing. As I noted in the earlier blog, the overwhelming sense … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art Deco, Environmental Quality, Ghost Signs, High Streets, Historic Shops, History, Orkney, Places, Planning, Post Offices, Regeneration, Retail History, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopfronts, Signage, Small Towns, Streets, Streetscapes, Stromness, Towns
Tagged Art Deco, Design, Fascias, Fugaccia, Ghostsigns, History, Orkney, Retail History, Retail Stores, Shopfronts, Soda Fountain, Stromness
Leave a comment
Talking Shops at The Engine Shed
On a number of occasions this blog has covered aspects of the past and in particular ghostsigns and historic shops and shopfronts. Across Scotland (and beyond) there is an enduring fascination for, and concern with, our retail history. I was … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, BHS, Buildings, Falkirk, Ghost Signs, High Streets, Historic Shops, History, Retail History, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopfronts, Signage, Stirling, Streets, Streetscapes, Urban History, Woolworths
Tagged Architecture, BHS Mural Hull, Co-operatives, Conservation, Engine Shed, History, Murals, Retail History, Shopfronts, Shops, Stirling, Streets, Streetscapes, Woolworths
1 Comment
Perth – Past, Present, Future
Last week I ventured north to the ‘Fair City’ of Perth for a presentation at a Scottish Civic Trust and Perth Civic Trust evening event on the theme of Perth: Past, Present and Future. I had been given the task … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Buildings, Closure, Consumer Change, Consumers, High Streets, Historic Shops, History, Independents, Online Retailing, Perth, Places, Public Realm, Reinvention, Retail Planning, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Shopfronts, Store Closures, Streets, Streetscapes, Town Centre Living, Town Centres, Understanding Scottish Places, Urban History
Tagged Architecture, Assets, Civic Trust, Future, High Streets, History, Perth, Retailing, Streetscapes, Town Planning, Urban History
2 Comments
Stirlingretail 