Bill and Mary forgot about people

There’s another report about the future of the High Street this week, and Mary Portas is facing a grilling over the Portas Pilots in Parliament. But what have the retail experts forgotten?

When retail experts like Mary Portas and Bill Grimsey talk confidently about the death of the high street, there’s one thing that they seem to have forgotten.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit Amsterdam, Bedford, Belfast, Bexley, Boston, Brighton, Brixton, Broadstairs, Coventry, Chichester, Eastbourne, Enfield, Guildford, Halifax, Holbeach, the Isle of Wight, Leeds, Lewes, Littlehampton, Manchester, Margate, Newcastle in New South Wales, Portsmouth, Rochdale, Rotterdam, Salford, Shoreham, Southampton, Streatham, Stresa in Italy and Worthing in the last year or so.

And what Bill and Mary have forgotten? Independent record stores, quirky bookshops, antique shops, food markets, toyshops, ironmongers, vintage clothing emporiums, art materials shops, mod-style menswear boutiques, tailors making suits for older men, shops selling scooters, electrical stores, wool shops, greengrocers, model railway shops, comic stores, flea markets, stationery shops, galleries, haberdashers and charity shops do more than just ‘retail’…

View original post 451 more words