Archived blog posts (2009 to 2018) about shops on the high street and online, by North East-based retail consultant Graham Soult
Already boasting lots of character and a strong retail offer, what does Darlington town centre need to do to retain and enhance its appeal to visitors?
Read more....What qualities have allowed stores like Rutherford’s, Barkers and Browns to thrive? New independent department store Sandersons offers some clues.
Read more....One of the most interesting things to emerge from my regular Retailer Q&A features is a sense of how different, longstanding independents are navigating the increasingly multichannel...
Read more....With my CannySites.com business traditionally focusing upon stores in the home, garden and holidays space, it’s fair to say that fashion probably hasn’t been my...
Read more....Think of a great northern city, and the chances are that you’ll bring to mind one of the great northern retailers that’s based there. Bradford...
Read more....In what seems to be becoming a regular occurrence, I’m off to Spring Fair International at the NEC today (Monday 3 February) where – as...
Read more....Regular readers will know that one of my favourite things about working in retail is discovering really interesting and successful independent shops – whether that’s...
Read more....Regular readers will know that I visit a lot of British high streets – including more than 400 different ones in the last four years...
Read more....Regular readers will know that I always enjoy an obscure Woolworths anniversary, and today represents the 80th anniversary of the now-defunct chain opening its 498th store,...
Read more....The traditional, independent department store has been a fixture of the British high street for generations – yet look around, and you could be forgiven for...
Read more....Whether you’re running a high-street shop, an online store or both, what are the ingredients that you need to create a really effective content website...
Read more....Through both my work at CannySites.com and my blogging, I get to see an awful lot of independent retailers’ websites, including the good, the bad...
Read more....While former Woolworths up and down the country now play host to Poundland and B&M Bargains – with just the occasional Waitrose – the Surrey town...
Read more....While Hexham’s soon-to-close Millets looks to have a new tenant waiting in the wings, a couple of other closures since my previous visit in June provide...
Read more....I suspect it will have passed the townsfolk by, but today – 13 August – is the 85th anniversary of Woolworths opening in the County Durham...
Read more....Though I get to work with plenty of bathroom retailers through my Home Interiors Directory website, it isn’t a sector of the retail industry I’ve really blogged...
Read more....I’ve often commented on Hexham’s very low retail vacancy rate, and the fact that the town’s empty units rarely stay empty for long. Arrivals in...
Read more....The recent news that Hoopers in Carlisle is to close is clearly a disappointing development for the city, but it’s also very sad for anyone – like me...
Read more....Among all the retail gloom that the newspapers seem to like writing about, it was refreshing to read last week that Browns of York is to...
Read more....One of the few empty shops in Hexham will soon be occupied again, with Poundland set to move into the former Heron Foods site in Priestpopple....
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