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
- Personal Announcement: FRSE
- Twenty One Years of UK Grocery Market Share
- Retail Branding: it's not (just) private label
- Scotland's Shops and Shopfronts: history and future?
- Locavore's Bigger Plan
- Economic Trends in the Retail Sector, Great Britain: 1989 to 2021
- Strange Things in Self-Service
- UK Grocery Market Share 1997-2019
- Internet sales as a percentage of retail sales in the UK
- The Great Tapestry of Scotland in Galashiels
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Tag Archives: BIDs
Season’s Greetings 2022
As Chair of Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP) I get to put a Christmas message in the final bulletin of the year which goes out to members. This is an appropriate opportunity to reflect briefly on the last year generally and for STP … Continue reading
Posted in Bids Scotland, Christmas, Local Authorities, New Future for Scotland's Towns, NPF4, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged A New Future for Scotland's Towns, BIDs, Christmas, Community, COSLA, NPF4, partnership, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Towns Conference, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, towns
1 Comment
The Retail Strategy for Scotland – Launch Day Questions to the Minister
As noted in my previous post, on the 24th March the Scottish Government published its Retail Strategy for Scotland and the Minister Tom Arthur MSP launched it in Parliament that afternoon. The Strategy can be downloaded here and the Ministerial … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Bids Scotland, Consumer Change, High Streets, Independents, Local Authorities, Local Retailers, New Future for Scotland's Towns, Places, Public Policy, Retail Change, Retail leadership, Retail Policy, Retail Productivity, Retail Strategy, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Government, Scottish Retailing, Small Shops, Strategy, Town Centres, Towns
Tagged BIDs, Business rates, Independent Retailing, Non-domestic rates, Places, Productivity, Retail Strategy, Retailing, Scotland, Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament, Small Retailers, towns
3 Comments
St James Quarter – curating and change
Last week saw the opening of parts of the St James Quarter in Edinburgh. Conceived a long time ago, and without any conception of the possibilities and impact of a global pandemic, the centre is in some ways of a … Continue reading
Posted in Aberdeen, BIDS, City Centres, Edinburgh, John Lewis Partnership, Pandemic, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scottish Retailing, Shopping Centres, St James Quarter, Uncategorized
Tagged Aberdeen, Aberdeen Inspired, BIDs, City Centres, Commuting, Edinburgh, John Lewis, Pandemic, Princes St, Retail Change, St James Quarter, Tourism
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COVID-19: How Scotland’s Improvement Districts are supporting businesses and communities
In any normal year, we would be meeting at this time in Holyrood for the Annual Parliamentary Reception for the Cross Party Group on Towns and Town Centres. This of course is no normal year. The event is instead being … Continue reading
Posted in Bids Scotland, Covid19, Cross Party Group, Government, Local Authorities, Localisation, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized
Tagged BIDs, Bids Scotland, Covid-19, Cross Party Group, Localism, Pandemic, Recovery, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament
3 Comments
Scotland’s Towns – a decade of learning (hopefully)
As this post is published (3 April) I am presenting at an event held to formally launch Scotland’s Town Centre Boost Fund of £50m. The Town Centre Fund has been set up by Scottish Government and COSLA and aims “to … Continue reading
Posted in Government, High Streets, Place Standard, Places, Regeneration, Retail Change, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, town centre first, Town Centre Living, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Understanding Welsh Places, USP
Tagged BIDs, COSLA, High Streets, National Review of Town Centres, Place Principle, Scotland, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Towh Centre Boost Fund, Town Centre Action plan, Town Centres, USP
2 Comments
Trading Places: our Town and Country Planning Columns
In 2012 Anne Findlay and I attempted to take over from Professor Cliff Guy who had provided the Trading Places columns in Town and Country Planning for 12 years. In the subsequent 6 years we have produced 23 columns, but … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, Alcohol, BIDS, Bill Grimsey, Bookmakers, Consumer Change, Consumers, Farm Shops, Food Retailing, Government, High Streets, Internet shopping, Mary Portas, Places, Planning, Pop-Up Shops, Proactive Planning, Rates, Resilience, Retail Change, Retail Parks, Retail Planning, Retail Policy, Social Inequality, Town & Country PLanning, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Uncategorized
Tagged BIDs, Bookmakers, Business rates, Consumer change, Farm Shops, High Streets, Obesity, Planning, Pop-Up Shops, Rates, Retail, Retail Change, retail parks, Retail Planning, TCPA, Town and Country Planning, Town Centres
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World Towns Leadership Summit, 15-16 June 2016, Edinburgh
This is a reblog from Scotland’s Towns Partnership, about what I think should be an important and interesting event in Edinburgh in June: Join international town and urban leaders for a world first, taking place in Scotland in June … Continue reading
Posted in Government, Leadership, Places, Public Realm, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Social Inequality, Social Justice, Towns, Urban
Tagged ATCM, BIDs, Bids Scotland, Civic, Downtown, IDA, Leadership, Place-Making, Places, Scotland's Towns Partnership, towns, Urban
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East Kilbride and the Forth Road Bridge
Yes, I was a geographer, and I am fully aware that the Forth Road Bridge does not go through East Kilbride! Most recently of course the Forth Road Bridge has not been connecting anything or anywhere. Without belittling the impact … Continue reading
Posted in BIDS, Can Do Towns, Carnegie UK Trust, Closure, Consumer Choice, East Kilbride, Fife, Forth Road Bridge, Local Retailers, New Towns, Places, Relationships, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Towns
Tagged BIDs, East Kilbride, Fife, Forth Road Bridge, History, Local Retailing, New Towns, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Scottish Government, Town Centre Action plan, towns
1 Comment
Social Spaces and Places
A number of my colleagues have at times questioned why I bother with this retail blog or engage with Twitter. They tend to view such activity as essentially pointless or potentially taking them away from their research and other activity. … Continue reading
Posted in Academics, BIDS, Community, Community Co-operatives, Community Development, Cooperatives, Development Trusts, High Streets, Places, Regeneration, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Town Centre Action Plan, Town Centre Review, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, USP
Tagged BIDs, Co-operatives, Cooperative Movement, High Streets, Places, Retailing, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Town Centres, towns
2 Comments
No (digital) place like home?
Over the last few years I have had several very interesting conversations with Simon Baldwin about the role of digital and social media in the development and maintenance of places, towns and BIDs. In response to my last post on … Continue reading
Posted in Communications, Digital, Home, Internet, Places, Scotland, Social media, Towns
Tagged BIDs, Communications, Digital, Home, Identity, Internet, Places, Scotland, Shopping Centres, towns
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