Stockton High Street (11 Jul 2011)

Since I blogged about my judging role as part of Stockton Council’s first ever Town Centre Business Awards, launched back in July, I’m pleased to report that there have been over 200 nominations from the public for the Borough’s ‘Town Centre Business of the Year’.

I’m told that there have also been a lot of strong entries in each of the business categories – Eatery of the Year, Independent Retailer of the Year, Market Trader of the Year, National Chain of the Year and Newcomer of the Year – though I won’t get to see these until I meet up with all the other judges in a couple of weeks’ time.

Stockton Town Centre Business Awards judges, including me on the left

As well as me, the judging panel comprises Christine Kavanagh, who fronts the region’s Retail Skills Shops; Councillor Bob Cook, the Leader of Stockton Council; and Richard Poundford, who’s Stockton Council’s Head of Regeneration and Economic Development.

With the closing date set for Tuesday 20 September, businesses trading within any of the Borough’s town centres have just seven more days to enter the inaugural competition. Members of the public also still have time to vote for their ‘Town Centre Business of the Year’, which can be an eatery or market stall, as well as a shop.

As I noted before, the Awards are intended to recognise shops and eateries for their trading excellence – something that I’m more than happy to support and celebrate. From my previous posts, you’ll know that Stockton town centre is not without its challenges, including major competition from other retail centres, some prominent empty units, and a number of other properties – such as Debenhams – that could use some TLC. However, it’s good to be involved in something that helps to counter the relentlessly negative commentary from The Local Data Company, where Stockton’s apparently high proportion of empty shop units was once again highlighted in the latest six-monthly data last week.

Entry forms for the Awards are available from libraries across the Borough, and businesses and the public can also submit an entry online at www.stockton.gov.uk/businessawards. The winner of each category will receive £250 at an awards ceremony at Stockton Town Hall on Friday 30 September.

I’m very much looking forward to seeing – and judging – all the contenders!

Stockton Town Centre Business Awards judges, including me on the left

While I was on my holidays, I was pleased to see both the Northern Echo and Teesside’s Evening Gazette covering the opening of entries for Stockton Council’s Town Centre Business Awards. It’s a new initiative designed to find and celebrate “Stockton Borough’s crème de la crème of town centre businesses”… and I’m thrilled to be one of the four members of the judging panel.

Regular readers will know that Stockton-on-Tees is one of the places I’ve blogged about most frequently, most often in the context of the town centre having an unusually high proportion of empty shops – a figure getting on for 30%, according to LDC data, at the point when I covered the topic in detail back in December 2010.

Filming with the BBC's Chris Jackson in Stockton High Street (22 Nov 2010)

At roughly double the national average, there’s little wonder that I seem to have spent a good chunk of the last few months appearing on BBC1, BBC Tees and ITV1, trying to explain to the media why the number of voids in Stockton is apparently so high.

As I’ve argued on air, competition from out-of-town retail – of which the Stockton area has a particularly large amount – is undoubtedly a factor, with potential town centre retailers such as TK Maxx and Next choosing to occupy retail park sites instead.

At the same time, Stockton’s town centre has had to deal with its proximity to the North East’s third and fourth largest retail centres (Middlesbrough and Darlington, according to CACI Retail Footprint data, behind Newcastle and Metrocentre; Sunderland, interestingly, is fifth), as well as an unusually severe impact from national retail collapses.

Stockton Enterprise Arcade (11 Jul 2011)

However, for all these challenges, one point that I’ve made consistently and passionately is that Stockton has all the right ingredients to be a successful retail centre. Its High Street constitutes one of the country’s most impressive urban spaces, and the local council seems to be making the right types of intervention – such as opening the innovative Stockton Enterprise Arcade, supporting the reopening of the 2,500-capacity Globe Theatre, and instilling pride in the town centre through Stockton in Bloom.

Stockton High Street (11 Jul 2011)

Equally, if you ignore the empty shops for a moment, it’s hard to dispute that Stockton does still have a pretty strong retail centre for a town of its size. For example, the value-focused Castlegate Shopping Centre is consistently busy and almost fully occupied, while there are many larger and more prominent towns that would covet a Debenhams department store and a modernised Marks & Spencer.

Marks & Spencer in Stockton (16 Nov 2010)

Given my enthusiasm for the town, I was therefore delighted when Stockton Council asked if I would like to be a judge of the borough’s inaugural Town Centre Business Awards. As a blogger I’ve always believed in backing up my words with action, and this seemed like a great opportunity to do just that.

So, how do the awards work? The first thing to flag up is that they’re not just limited to Stockton itself, but cover all the town centres within the wider borough, which also includes retail centres such as Billingham, Thornaby, Yarm and Norton. Similarly, while shops are obviously a big part of these centres and of the awards, the competition is open to all town centre businesses, including eateries and market traders.

Billingham town centre (16 Nov 2010)

I’ll be joined on the judging panel by North East retail expert Christine Kavanagh, who fronts the Tees Valley Retail Skills Shop that delivers Mary Portas Retail Masterclasses to businesses; Councillor Bob Cook, the Leader of Stockton Council; and Richard Poundford, Stockton Council’s Head of Regeneration and Economic Development. The judges will meet in September to consider entries and select the overall winners, and the awards will culminate in a ceremony at Stockton Town Hall on Friday 30 September.

A total of six awards are up for grabs and the winners will each receive £250. Businesses are being invited to submit entries in five categories, which are:

• Eatery of the Year
• Independent Retailer of the Year
• Market Trader of the Year
• National Chain of the Year
• Newcomer of the Year.

In addition, one category will be voted for solely by the public, whose votes will determine the winner of ‘The Consumers’ Town Centre Business of the Year’ award.

As Bob Cook notes, “the Consumers’ Town Centre Business of the Year award is a great chance for residents to support their local shops, market traders and businesses and make sure they are recognised for going the extra mile and putting the customer first in all they do. It is also important for traders to celebrate their own strengths. It’s quick and simple to apply and I would encourage all of traders in all of our town centres to take part.”

At a challenging time for both retail and the wider economy, anything that helps to celebrate the high street and promote great town centres businesses has to be a positive thing. So, like Bob, I’d encourage businesses to nominate themselves for an award; and local people to get involved and nominate their favourite town centre shops and eateries.

Entry forms are available from libraries across the Borough and can also be downloaded at www.stockton.gov.uk/businessawards. Meanwhile, I’ll certainly be blogging any interesting updates as I get them. Good luck, and get entering!

Ruby Wax and Andy Bond at the Retail London Conference

Greetings to you not from my usual North East, but from my hotel room in London, where I’m reflecting on an intense but inspiring afternoon at the inaugural Retail London conference. I hope to post fuller reflections on the event following tomorrow’s second day, but I’ll try to keep my tiredness at bay while I give some initial reactions.

Today’s sessions brought together a varied and eyecatching line-up of speakers, with comedian Ruby Wax – an inspired signing – in the role of moderator. In the context of an event that is otherwise very slick and streamlined, Ruby’s unscripted repartee with the speakers – and unsurprising lack of retail industry knowledge – brings a welcome light touch to proceedings.

Retail London branding

The event opened with a passionate and note-free speech from former Asda chairman and chief executive Andy Bond, jokingly introduced by Ruby Wax as “nobody now”, following the end of his 16-year-stint at the Walmart-owned retailer. Unsurprisingly, current economic challenges were a recurring context in this and subsequent speeches, with Bond arguing that UK retail is in for “a tough time” this year and next, and that the “retail recession is ahead of us” rather than behind.

However, he sought to offer a practical perspective on how retailers can rise to those challenges, highlighting the three imperatives of, firstly, delivering what (increasingly empowered) customers want; secondly, building a competitive business model through employing great people, building a business based on purpose and integrity, and being passionate about product; and, thirdly, driving ones own personal development.

It was on the third point where Bond was perhaps most persuasive, emphasising the importance of “following your passion not your wallet” and drawing from his own love of cycling to highlight the value of balancing work with “other things you’re going to do in your life.” Later, philosopher and writer Alain de Botton used his eloquent speech on the philosophy of the global modern consumer to endorse similar values of integrity, honesty and “fitting with who we are”, in the context of work being one of the pillars – along with love – upon which modern expectations of happiness are based.

Glen T Senk at the Retail London Conference

Following up Andy Bond, Bob Thacker from US chain OfficeMax gave an entertaining and insightful account of how a retailer that’s not a market leader can build its brand and a niche by having “big ideas” rather than “big bucks”. Passion, creativity and curiosity in marketing are, he argued, especially important in the context of a world where “people are paralysed” and have ”hit the pause button” on retail spending. Later in the afternoon, fellow American Glen T Senk, the CEO of Urban Outfitters, gave an equally rich and interesting account of how the company has built a distinctive and “emotional” brand, underpinned by the principle of “wowing the customer” in order to “build the business for the long term.”

On an afternoon dominated by inspirational stories and themes, the speech by Deloitte economist Ira Kalish on the changing shape of the global economy was the only incongruous note. While Kalish came across as clearly very knowledgable on the world’s emerging markets, the presentation suffered from its surfeit of information over inspiration, and its lecture-style seemed to go down less well with the audience than the more engaging feel of the other speakers.

So, what can we draw from the first day of the conference? For me, two key threads have emerged.

One relates to the unavoidable economic reality in which we find ourselves, and the recognition that things may yet get worse in retail before they get better.

The second thread, however, is a more optimistic and celebratory one. It reminds us of all those qualities that shape, and have shaped, the most successful retail businesses and leaders – among them passion, integrity, honesty and creativity. Today’s speakers left the audience in little doubt that retailers who subscribe to these values will be best placed to weather the present economic storm. 

The iconic Tyne Bridge

The retail hearts of Newcastle and Gateshead are set to be connected by a new £200m shopping mall, running the length of the iconic Tyne Bridge.

The scheme will involve building a new modern steel and glass structure underneath the existing road deck, providing a covered mall route between the Newcastle and Gateshead sides, and affording panoramic views over the existing developments at Newcastle Quayside and Gateshead Quays.

The project is also set to bring the historic Tyne Bridge towers into use for the first time since they were built, as intended five-storey warehouses, in the 1920s. Talks are underway to attract upmarket department store Harvey Nichols to the tower on the Newcastle side, while the Gateshead tower looks set to house a 30,000 sq ft branch of B&M Bargains, making it the expanding discount chain’s largest store to date.

One of the Tyne Bridge towers

The proposed development – to be known as The Bridges – seeks to address the age-old issue of how to link the twin centres of Newcastle-Gateshead.

By filling in the missing link between the centres, the scheme will create a 1.5-mile-long retail and leisure thoroughfare stretching from Newcastle’s Northumberland Street to Gateshead High Street, and connecting the planned retail-led regeneration of Aldersgate’s East Pilgrim Street site in Newcastle with Spenhill’s Trinity Square redevelopment in Gateshead.

Speaking exclusively to Soult’s Retail View, one local property consultant described the scheme as “visionary”, claiming that the new bus-lined boulevard will become “Newcastle-Gateshead’s answer to Barcelona’s Las Ramblas.”

The topography of the Tyne Gorge means that there will be level access to the new mall on both banks of the river, as well as lifts and escalators connecting it to the existing pedestrian routes over the Tyne Bridge. Inside the mall, the developers are promising to sign up designer fashion stores, upmarket restaurants, and at least two branches of Greggs.

Stottie anyone?

Sara Pilfloody from developers RIALP told Soult’s Retail View:

“A decade ago, the successful Grainger Town Project gave Newcastle the Bond Street of the North, anchored by TJ Hughes, Subway and Xmas Box.

“Now, The Bridges is set to be Newcastle-Gateshead’s answer to St Pancras International, transforming a neglected part of the city, opening new pedestrian routes, and bringing in high-end designer names. We are also planning the longest champagne bar in Europe, stretching the full 389m of the Tyne Bridge.”

However, Pilfloody rejected suggestions that the new mall’s name is too similar to the existing Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland:

“I don’t think it will cause any confusion at all. After all, our mall is actually going to be a bridge, which of course Sunderland’s shopping centre isn’t. Also, we commissioned market research which revealed that Newcastle residents are generally unlikely to shop in Sunderland, especially – surprisingly – on Saturday afternoons.”

Not this Bridges

The developers hope to submit planning applications to Newcastle and Gateshead Councils later this year, with work set to begin in late 2012. Given the challenges of the elevated site, construction work is expected to take up to eight years, ensuring that the scheme will be completed in advance of Gateshead’s new town centre Tesco.

The plans for the exciting scheme will go on show to the public today (1 April), with an open-air exhibition on the Newcastle Quayside. The exhibition will be located beneath the deck of the Tyne Bridge, next to the kittiwake nest site.

Visitors are advised to wear wide-brimmed and waterproof headgear, and to check their calendar.

Graham filming with the BBC's Chris Jackson in Stockton High Street

Those of you in the North East and Cumbria (or anywhere else with access to Freesat), may be interested in watching BBC1 at 7.30 pm tonight (Monday 6 December)! [UPDATE: The programme is now available to watch on iPlayer.]

The regional Inside Out programme includes an interview with me as part of a feature on the state of the North East’s high streets; coincidentally, the programme also has a report (not involving me) on the transformation of Robbs of Hexham, under the new ownership of Beales.

Hexham's transformed Robbs store (4 Dec 2010)

The high street theme is running across all the regional editions of Inside Out this week – in the BBC South version, for example, Claire Robertson from Wellworths is making an appearance, talking about Dorchester’s success in maintaining a very low number of empty shops. 

The programmes’ timing deliberately coincides with the release of new research into empty shop rates that the BBC commissioned from the Local Data Company, as well as with the impending second anniversary of Woolworths’ demise – hence the BBC asking me if I’d be willing to be involved.

B&M Bargains, on the site of Stockton's old Woolworths (22 Nov 2010)

I had a really enjoyable and interesting day filming with the BBC in Stockton and Hartlepool – happily just before all the current snow and ice kicked in. The reason for filming in Stockton was its dubious honour of having nearly 30% of its town centre shops empty – one of the highest proportions of any of the 500 town centres covered by the LDC survey. My job was to provide some insight into why Stockton has such a high vacancy rate – building on my August blog post on that topic – as well as commenting on the success of those discount retailers, like B&M Bargains in Stockton, that have taken over old Woolies sites across the region.

Stockton High Street (17 Sep 2010)

As you know from my previous comments, I have rather a fondness for Stockton town centre. Its unusually wide High Street is one of the best urban spaces anywhere, and it is lined by some beautiful – if sometimes neglected – buildings.

Castlegate Shopping Centre, Stockton (28 Jun 2010)

Equally, visit the Castlegate Shopping Centre, where we started our filming, and you can also be forgiven for wondering where the LDC got its figures from. Though very much based around a value offer (including Wilkinson, Poundland and Home Bargains, as well as B&M), there are hardly any vacant units and the mall was really busy with shoppers on the Monday morning that we were there.

Wellington Square, Stockton (17 Sep 2009)

Nevertheless, walk the length of the High Street towards the empty Globe Theatre and the number of vacant units does start to add up. In Wellington Square, Stockton’s newer shopping centre, I counted at least 15 (mostly smaller) empty units, despite the presence of strong anchors such as Debenhams, New Look, H&M and (a modernised) M&S. Around the corner, in the High Street itself, one particular stretch includes only one permanent shop in a row of six units that are otherwise either empty or to let. With these kinds of numbers, the LDC findings begin to make sense.

Empty shops in Stockton High Street (22 Nov 2010)

So, why does Stockton have so many empty shops? When the BBC’s Chris Jackson asked me this question while filming in front of some of these vacant units, I suggested that it was down to a combination of factors.

While it’s easy to blame out-of-town retail, it’s certainly true that Stockton town centre has to compete with an unusually large number of out-of-town stores, both at Teesside Shopping Park and Portrack Lane. This doesn’t stop some retailers, such as M&S, having a presence both in-town and out – indeed, even B&M has just opened a Homestore in part of the old Big W at Portrack Lane, obviously seeing this as complementary to its Castlegate shop.

Marks & Spencer in Stockton (16 Nov 2010)

However, other retailers that could conceivably have a Stockton town centre presence, like Next and TK Maxx, already have stores at Teesside Shopping Park instead. Factor in the competition from Middlesbrough’s strong retail centre just four miles away, and it’s easy to frame Stockton as having a town centre that is simply too large for its current needs. Imagine that Stockton’s empty shops could be magicked away, with those that remain compressed into a smaller footprint. Without the distraction of the empty units, what you would see is a pretty strong retail offer for a place of Stockton’s size. Indeed, there are plenty of towns that would love to have both Debenhams and M&S on their high street, as Stockton still does.

Closed-down Rosebys in Stockton (16 Nov 2010)

As I explained to Chris, however, Stockton’s situation is not all down to local factors. There’s little any place can do when quite a number of its empty shops – such as a former Ethel Austin, Leveys, Rosebys, Au Naturale and Internacionale – are the consequence of weak retailers collapsing or struggling at a national level. Unfortunately, such names tend to be disproportionately represented in more secondary or less affluent retail locations rather than in major city centres, exacerbating the problem of empty shops in those places that often most need a retail fillip.

However, work already underway in Stockton provides some optimism for the future. The local council seems to recognise what needs to be done, improving the appearance of empty shops to minimise their blighting effect on the town centre, and supporting the transformation of the derelict Globe Theatre into a venue that draws people into that part of the High Street. All this is helped by the fact that Stockton High Street offers such a unique and impressive setting.

Inside Middleton Grange, Hartlepool (17 Sep 2009)

In contrast, Hartlepool’s town centre, where we filmed later in the day, suffers from having much less richness and character, due to its town centre basically being the Middleton Grange shopping centre. As with other homogeonous town centres such as Washington, this inevitably limits the options for retailers looking to enter Hartlepool, particularly those that would prefer a bustling high street location to an enclosed mall. After all, there must be some reason why Hartlepool’s large Woolworths site remains empty at the same time as many big names (and potential occupants) – such as BHS, H&M, TK Maxx and TJ Hughes – remain absent from the town.

Church Square, Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

Though parts of Middleton Grange are bright and busy, it suffers from being largely inward facing, and from having inadequate physical connections with the surrounding area. It is around these edges – notably in the dismal Market Walk area – where Middleton Grange seems to have its largest number of empty units.

The desolate Market Walk area of Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

I love the vibrancy of Hartlepool Marina, as well as the pleasing architecture and townscape of Church Square and Church Street (part of Ralph Ward Jackson’s original town centre for West Hartlepool – more of which in an upcoming post). However, getting to these places on foot from the town centre is stymied by a succession of busy roads, despite the distance not being very great. For the same reason, I suspect few of those who visit the Marina, Museum of Hartlepool or HMS Trincomalee make it over to the town centre.

The attractive Hartlepool Marina (17 Sep 2009)

Apart from making Hartlepool less hard to navigate, an important point I made on camera related to the town’s lack of a department store. Go back twenty years, and Hartlepool had Binns (House of Fraser) as well of Uptons, anchoring either end of Middleton Grange.

The outline of the former Binns logo can still be seen (16 Nov 2010)

Today, the Binns site is occupied by Wilkinson, and the old Uptons is a Co-op Home Store – basically one of Anglia Co-op’s Westgate Department Stores, but with only home-related departments and no fashions. If Hartlepool is to prevent the leakage of shoppers to centres such as Middlesbrough and Sunderland, this is a gap that really needs to be filled.

Co-op Home Store, Hartlepool (16 Nov 2010)

Having said all this, I’m not entirely sure how much of the filming is going to be used in the programme tonight – I know that the need to report on the impact of the current cold weather has meant that the retail features have, unfortunately, had to be trimmed. Let’s just hope that Inside Out doesn’t feel a late urge to report on Newcastle United sacking yet another manager earlier this afternoon…

Shopjacket in Howard Street, North Shields (18 Jun 2010)

While checking out North Shield’s Wooly Minded, I also paid a visit to the North East’s third Shopjacket, in nearby Howard Street, following on from those in Whitley Bay and Barnard Castle. However, with future Shopjacket projects in the pipeline for London and overseas, this might be the last one that I capture for a while!

North Shields Shopjacket (18 Jun 2010)

Taking the form of a hairdressers, the concept in North Shields is the same as before, with high-quality graphic design giving the illusion of a real shop. In a slight change from previously, however, the North Shields Shopjacket was installed in the space of a couple of hours, with observers – including a camera crew from the Russian TV channel RTR – invited to go along and watch the whole process.

Handily, you can watch a timelapse of the installation on YouTube.

Meanwhile, my innocent remark that “it might not be long before Barnard Castle’s fake bakers is replaced by a proper one” seems to have been eerily prescient. I understand that a North East-based bakers is due to sign for the unit any time now, suggesting that the Shopjacket concept can indeed play a part in inspiring real businesses to take over the empty units that it showcases.

Shopjacket in Barnard Castle... but maybe not for much longer (5 June 2010)

Finally, just a quick word to mark the fact that my earlier post about Card Factory coming to Newcastle was my 100th blog post since Soult’s Retail View launched almost a year ago. In that time the blog has logged 47,812 views, with the highest number – 945 – coming on Tuesday 16 February, the opening day of Eldon Square’s extension.

Needless to say, I’d like to thank all of you who have read, commented on, talked about, contributed to, and given feedback on this blog to date. It’s greatly appreciated, and I’m looking forward to the next 100 posts and beyond!

Promo shot for Hollister's spring collection

Eldon Square’s new Apple Store may have attracted the most buzz at the opening of St Andrew’s Way back in February, but it’s Hollister that’s still dominating traffic to Soult’s Retail View, ahead of its opening on 15 April. 

Since the store’s imminent arrival was announced barely three months ago, an incredible 1,755 visitors have reached this blog after Googling ‘hollister newcastle’, closely followed by ‘hollister eldon square’ (324), ‘hollister newcastle opening’ (139) and ‘hollister in newcastle’ (117).

Echoing what I wrote in a previous post, I suspect – based on the imagery being used to promote the retailer’s spring collection – that I am neither young enough nor glamorous enough to be part of Hollister’s target market. However, I’ll certainly be curious to drop by when the store opens – on 15 April – to see what all the fuss is about, assuming of course that I can get through all the crowds. The fact that the Hollister Newcastle Facebook fan page already has 431 fans signed up (most of them indeed young and glamorous) merely reinforces my impression that Hollister coming to Eldon Square really is seen as a big deal indeed.

One unintended consequence of being the top Google result for ‘hollister newcastle’ is that I’ve been getting a steady stream of emails from people asking how they can get a job at the store (try here) or when it’s going to be opening (15 April). As a blogger, I’ve quickly come to realise that you do get some slightly off-piste enquiries, mostly from people who seemingly cannot distinguish between someone, like me, who is merely writing about a particular retailer, and someone (not me) who represents the retailer itself.

In some ways, it will be quite a relief when Hollister in Newcastle finally opens its doors – on 15 April – and I can turn my attention to other areas of retail interest. In the meantime, you can bet that there’ll still be someone who drops me a line asking when the store’s going to open…

Yours truly in Northumberland Street, with Marketwise Strategies MD Jacquie Potts

Everyone likes to be in the newspaper occasionally (as long as it’s for positive reasons, of course), so I rather enjoyed my recent appearances in the Northern Echo, The Journal, and on the Entrepreneurs’ Forum website^{[broken link removed]}.

The focus of the story was the global media intelligence company Cision placing Soult’s Retail View at #2 in its list of the UK’s top ten retail blogs – previously reported by me here – and hanging off that the idea of creativity outside the office feeding in to what you can achieve in the workplace.

In case you missed it before, here’s the full story:

SOULT MAKES HIS NAME IN UK RETAIL BLOGOSPHERE

A NEWCASTLE market researcher has been declared the number two retail blogger in the UK – being only narrowly beaten to the number one slot by leading industry magazine Retail Week.

Graham Soult, who is a senior research executive at specialist market research company Marketwise Strategies on the city’s Westgate Road, was named the 2nd best blogger on all-things retail by global media intelligence company Cision.

Cision’s list was compiled by “combining visitor, search and social metrics with inhouse expertise” to “identify the most read, most discussed and most influential names in the UK retail blogosphere”.

His blog – Soult’s Retail View – is an analysis of the UK’s retail industry and retail history, often with a North-East flavour.

Graham Soult, an Architecture graduate who also runs two web portals called the Home Interiors Directory and the Garden and Landscape Directory in his spare time, said: “I started the blog because I have always been fascinated by the way retail is such an important part of every town, city and community.

“I write the blog as a hobby but it certainly helps me in my daily work as a market researcher because there’s a retail element to quite a lot of the market research projects we do, such as launching new products and interviewing representatives of top retail companies.

“I only started the blog last July and have taught myself how to create websites, blog and Tweet. All those skills have proved really useful as Marketwise Strategies builds its own online presence, and also help me to better understand the needs of our clients in the digital sector.”

Marketwise Strategies is currently revamping its website, to put in place more sophisticated online communications to maximise its web presence.

Marketwise Strategies managing director Jacquie Potts said: “We’re absolutely thrilled that Graham’s blog has been recognised and I firmly believe that encouraging your staff to be creative outside of work helps them to be creative inside work.

“Graham has shown entrepreneurial flair by launching his own websites and brings fantastic retail, online marketing and web knowledge to the business. I just hope with all his success that he doesn’t become a millionaire too soon!”

For further information about Marketwise Strategies, please visit our website at http://www.marketwisestrategies.com/.

I’ll have to start formulating my next media appearance, though nothing is likely to beat my new colleague, Sarah Bagby, appearing on the cover of last Thursday’s Evening Chronicle alongside the ’410 Jobs Inside Tonight’ headline! Certainly, though – as retailers know all too well – it’s amazing what a good PR company can achieve: raising the profile of your business, and helping to build and communicate a distinctive personality for your brand.

Cision's 'Top UK Blogs - Retail' page

Given that I’ve only been blogging since July, I was surprised and a little humbled to see that the global media intelligence company Cision has today included Soult’s Retail View at #2 in its list of the UK’s top ten retail blogs.

Apparently, Cision’s list is compiled by “combining visitor, search and social metrics with in-house expertise”, to “identify the most read, most discussed and most influential names in the UK Retail blogosphere”. Admittedly, there aren’t that many UK retail blogs to choose from, but it’s always nice for any blogger to know that people out there are actually reading and (hopefully!) enjoying what they write.

On that note, I just want to thank everyone who has commented on or otherwise contributed to this blog over the last few months – it’s been good fun, and I’m looking forward to carrying on through 2010 and beyond.

This is more likely than not my final post before the festive season, so before I close I’d just like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas – and look forward to welcoming you back to the UK’s #2 retail blog in 2010!

I’ve just got to think of some interesting retail-related things to say now. Typically, I had lots of ideas this morning prior to setting up the blog, but now that it’s live my mind has gone blank – perhaps that’s to be expected after being at work all day. Still, I’m sure it won’t be long before I come up with something – even if its only to remark on the John Lewis Partnership weekly update on Friday morning!