Retail: Changing strategies turn shops into destinations
RETAILERS are altering their strategies to turn stores into destinations as they try to keep up with the changing high street.
The state of Yorkshire’s retail offer and how changing shopping habits are impacting on retailers was up for discussion at TheBusinessDesk.com’s retail round table, held at Squire Sanders’ offices in Leeds.
Michael Bates, managing director of clothing retailer Joe Browns and former buying and marketing director at Morrisons, said some stores are now getting other retailers in that space within their store – so a B&Q might introduce a food retailer, for example.
Matthew Lewis, partner and head of retail for Squire Sanders, said that was part of a strategy to make the stores more of a destination to keep people there for longer.
“Supermarkets have also taken the view that the high street is the place to be, not making people drive out of town. Retailers had previously seen 250 shops needed for a national presence but with online they don’t need that much space. This leads to more pressure on landlords,” he said.
The full story can be read in TheBusinessDesk.com’s new Yorkshire Retail supplement. Click here to read it.
According to Edward Chary, retail director for High Street TV, changes to the high street are mostly being driven by the way consumers are changing their shopping habits, with more and more people want to shop at their convenience.
“That’s either at their TV with a mobile – which is what we do – or they do that and decide they want to touch and feel. There is an element that requires a change in usage to make people stay on the high street for longer,” he said.
Baker Tilly head of Yorkshire retail, Jim Whittaker, and Prew Lumley, property partner at Squire Sanders, both said that was about the consumer experience and introducing more leisure and hospitality.
Richard J Donner, chairman of The Wakefield Shirt Company, a traditional brand with a long history, said his company sees the best returns in garden centres.
Lumley added: “What they are running is a retail destination with a few plants on the side.”
