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
- The Buttercup Dairy Company
- Retail change and why we fell in love with supermarkets?
- Logistics and Retail Management 5th Edition
- A (Retail) Sense of Place
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- London's Welsh Dairies: The Welsh Milk Trade
- Oxford Street, Hull and Beyond
- Strange Things in Self-Service
- Urban Logistics and Retailing
- Co-operative Tokens, Sports Direct and The Bristol Pound
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Cost of Employment in Local Convenience Stores
Almost a decade ago, we began working with the Scottish Grocers Federation on understanding the costs of doing business in the convenience sector. One aspect of this work has been the relationship between the headline figure for the National Living … Continue reading
Posted in Convenience stores, Cost of Living, Employment, Independents, Local Retailers, National Living Wage, Scottish Grocers Federation, Uncategorized, University of Stirling, Wages
Tagged Convenience stores, Cost of Living, Employment, National Living Wage, Scottish Grocers Federation, University of Stirling
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Independent Thinking – interview with Alexandra Forrest
In late last October I presented at a session here at the University of Stirling on Retailing, towns and healthy ageing. After my presentation I got into conversation with one of the audience members, Alexandra Forrest, as she had been … Continue reading
Posted in Community, Consumers, Creative Places, Entrepreneurship, Healthy Ageing, Independents, Places, Retail Planning, Retailers, Retailing, Small Shops, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Active travel, Ageing, Community Action, Entrepreneurs, High Streets, Independent Retailing, Planning, Retailing, Shopkeepers, Taxation, Town Centres
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Internet sales as a percentage of retail sales in the UK
I recently (21st February) published a piece on The Conversation about internet retailing in the UK and in particular the trends in the percentage of internet sales as a proportion of all retail sales. The original can be found here. … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, City Centres, Consumer Change, Consumers, Costs, e-commerce, Internet, Internet shopping, Office for National Statistics, Online Retailing, Retail Sales, Retailers, Shopping, The Conversation, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Amazon, Christmas, Costs, Covid, independents, Internet, Internet Sales, local shops, Office for National Statistics, Primark, Retailing, Strikes, Sustainability, towns
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Coffee KRUPS
In the middle of 2021, I bought a coffee grinder. I looked around, read the reviews, and ended up getting a KRUPS burr grinder (cost c£35). So far, so good. Just after Christmas 2022, the grinder stopped working. Dead, nothing, … Continue reading
Posted in Amazon, Brexit, Consumers, Customer Service, KRUPS, Service Quality, Uncategorized
Tagged Amazon, Brexit, Coffee, Consumer Rights, Customer service, KRUPS, Supply chains
4 Comments
The architectural heritage of Montague Burton’s Art Deco shops
Anyone who follows me on Twitter will, over a number of years, probably have got fed up with pictures of storefronts and ghostsigns. A common theme in this has been the architecture that is being lost – something that this … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art Deco, Burtons, Dublin, Halifax, Heritage, Historic Shops, Hull, Oxford Street, Places, Retail History, Uncategorized, Urban History
Tagged Abersytwyth, Architecture, Art Deco, Burtons, Design, Elephants, Foundation Stones, Halifax, Historic Shops, Hull, LaidbyMonty, Place Vandalism, Places, Retail Heritage, Retail History, Streetscapes, Swansea
1 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 Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, Clothing, Consumers, Costs, Customer service, Marks and Spencer, Retail, Retail Employment, Sainsbury, Self-checkout, Self-Scanning, Self-Service, technology
2 Comments
Town Centre Action Plan Launch and Roadshows
It was good to get back out and about and to be in Galashiels on the 31st May for the launch of the Town Centre Action Plan. Last Autumn I wrote about the Great Tapestry of Scotland and its stunning … Continue reading
Posted in Government, Great Tapestry of Scotland, Local Authorities, Localisation, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Non-domestic rates, Place Based Investment Programme, Place Principle, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Uncategorized
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Great Tapestry of Scotland, Local Authorities, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centres
2 Comments
Stirling – Still All at C
I had no intention of adding to my last post about the perverse decision of Stirling Council to go against official recommendation and permit a new ASDA superstore on a greenfield site further out from Stirling than any other retail … Continue reading
Posted in Asda, Car Dependency, Climate Emergency, Closure, East Kilbride, Employment, Food Retailing, High Streets, Local Authorities, Marks and Spencer, Out of Town, Place Principle, Places, Planning, Politicians, Retail Planning, Social Inequality, Spatial Planning, Stirling, Stirling Council, Sustainability, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Asda, B&M, Car-dependency, Climate Emergency, Food Culture, Food retailing, Out of town retailing, Planning, Stirling, Stirling Council, Sustainability, Town Centres
2 Comments
NPF4 – on the evidence trail
Yesterday I gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on the Scottish Government’s draft National Planning Framework 4. It was an interesting experience and lasted 90 minutes or so with a panel of myself, Professor … Continue reading
Posted in 20 Minute Neighbourhood, City Centres, Climate Emergency, Community, Community Assets, Community Development, Community Ownership, community wealth building, Government, Healthy Living, Heritage, Land Use Planning, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Place Principle, Places, Planning, Public Policy, Retail Impact Assessments, Retail Planning, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Stirling, Stirling Council, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged 20 minute, A New Future for Scotland's Towns, Climate Emergency, Community, community wealth building, Housing, Land Use Planning, NPF4, Place Principle, Planners, Planning, Regualation, Retail Impact Assessments, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Stirling, Stirling Council, Town Centres
4 Comments
Scotland Loves Local: The Next Phase
As part of the response to the pandemic and the focus that has been turned onto neighbourhoods, localities and local businesses, the Scotland Loves Local campaign was launched in late July 2020. It proved to “hit the spot” with many … Continue reading
Posted in Community, community wealth building, Consumers, Gift Card, Government, Independents, Local Authorities, Local Currency, Local Multiplier, Local Retailers, Neighbourhood, Perth, Places, Retailers, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Shopping, Small Shops, Town Centre Action Plan Review Group, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged Community, Covid-19, Gift Card, independents, Local Authorities, Local Business, Local Currency, Local Multiplier, Miconex, Neighbourhoods, Pandemic, Retailing, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Shopping, Town Centre Review, towns
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