Tag Archives: Lockdown

Independent Retailing During and After the Pandemic: Tell your Stories

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Leigh Sparks

In my last post one of the statements that garnered quite a lot of attention was “As an example, I am hearing of (and locally seeing) quite a lot of local independent businesses opening up, and a better realism of … Continue reading →

Posted in #IndieHour, Bill Grimsey, Collaboration, Community, Convenience, Entrepreneurship, Government, Independents, Local Retailers, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland Loves Local, Scotland's Improvement Districts, Scotland's Towns Partnership, Uncategorized, Wholesaling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Soaring Vacancies” : perhaps or perhaps not?

Posted on May 7, 2021 by Leigh Sparks

The end of last week saw headlines about the number of vacant shops in Scotland. Typical Scottish newspaper examples included: The Herald The Scotsman So, something of a downer to end the first week out of lockdown in Scotland and … Continue reading →

Posted in BRC, Consumers, Covid19, Data, Independents, Local Data Company, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Places, Rates, Rents, Retail Change, Retailers, Scotland, Scotland's Town and High Streets, Scottish Retail Consortium, Scottish Retailing, Shop Numbers, Shopping, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized, Vacancies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Great Re-Awakening?

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Leigh Sparks

One week on from the first major easing of retail (and other) restrictions from the ‘Christmas’ lockdown in Scotland and everyone is wondering how it has been and how it is going?  For some the sight of people queuing at … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, Consumers, Covid19, Lockdown, Pandemic, Primark, Queuing, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland, Scottish Retail Sales, Shopping, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

An (Un)Happy Anniversary

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Leigh Sparks

On the 16th March 2020 I started working from home.  There had been an odd set of circumstances in the run-up to this date. We’d come back from South Africa in late January and I’d felt a little unwell; something … Continue reading →

Posted in Amazon, Books, Cardiff, Christmas, Consumer Change, Consumer Lifestyle, Consumers, Covid19, Farmers Markets, Food, Food and Beverage, Food Retailing, Home Delivery, Independents, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Localisation, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Producers, Products, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland Food and Drink, Scottish Retailing, Small Shops, Stirling, Uncategorized, Wholesaling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Essential vs Non-Essential Retailing

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

At the start of lockdown in March, there was a division of retailing into essential and non-essential retailing, with a secondary division into physical and online channels.  There was some grumbling from some retailers (Sports Direct, Waterstones) who felt they … Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Closure, Essential Retailing, Government, Independents, Lockdown, Non-Essential Retailing, Non-food retailing, Online Retailing, Regulation, Scottish Government, Uncategorized, Wales | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How is Coronavirus affecting the UK’s Retail Sector?

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

A couple of months ago, Professor Graeme Roy of the Fraser of Allander Institute invited me to try to answer the question posed at the head of this post.  He is part of / leading an ESRC funded ‘observatory’ (Coronavirus … Continue reading →

Posted in Academics, Cities, Competition, Consumer Change, Consumers, Covid19, Essential Retailing, Food Retailing, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Lockdown, Non-Essential Retailing, Office for National Statistics, Panic buying, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Sales, Town Centres, Towns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Week 26 in my Greenhouse

Posted on September 19, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

Anyone who follows me on twitter will have become used to Saturday pictures and tweets about the progress or not in my greenhouse.  On the 28th March I began (week 1) and here we are at week 26 – half … Continue reading →

Posted in Availability, Covid19, Food, Garden Centres, Gardens, Lockdown, Logistics, Retailers, Retailing, Rugby Union, Seeds, Twitter, Uncategorized, Wales | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Retail sales surge close to pre-lockdown levels”

Posted on July 31, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

The retail headlines last week were interesting. Based on the latest Office for National Statistics retail sales data (for June 2020), the media packaged up a story about how UK retail sales had surged to pre-lockdown levels and were close … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer Change, Covid19, Data, Food Standards, Home Delivery, Internet shopping, Lockdown, Office for National Statistics, Online Retailing, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Sales, Shopping, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Grocery Market Shares in the UK 2020

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

In July of each year I have recorded the  Grcery Market Share of leading retailers in Great Britain as shown by Kantar data. This has been going on since 1997 and I have mentioned this series in this blog before … Continue reading →

Posted in Asda, Cooperative Group, Cooperatives, Covid19, Discounters, Food Retailing, Home Delivery, Independents, Internet shopping, Kantar, Lidl, Localisation, Lockdown, Market Shares, Ocado, Online Retailing, Retail Change, Retail Sales, Retailers, Retailing, Tesco, Uncategorized, Wal-Mart | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lockdown 1990s style

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Leigh Sparks

I am one of the fortunate ones, living in a large house with a garden.  I’ve always grown fruit and veg and have been making my own bread since 2007.  I also spent nearly 10 weeks locked-in in the house … Continue reading →

Posted in Click and Collect, Connectivity, Consumers, Covid19, Home Delivery, Internet, Internet shopping, Localisation, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Orkney, Social Inequality, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments