Special issue on the CIRM Conference, Manchester, September 2004
The annual CIRM conference organized by Manchester Metropolitan University Business School aims specifically to bring together practitioners with academics to discuss issues of contemporary relevance to the retail sector and its many stakeholders. In September 2004 the theme of the event was “Retailing in town and city centres: current issues and future prospects”, and it attracted contributions and delegates not only from around the UK but also from Europe, Canada, the USA and Australia. The papers that were presented covered a variety of topics, including change and its management, business improvement districts, the role of the independent retailer in centres, and trading and security issues. This edition of Retail Insights presents three of the papers which have a particular practitioner orientation.
Michelle Lowe’s paper examines the impact of the West Quay Development in Southampton on the city centre. The West Quay Development has been very successful in itself and is located within the main shopping district (as opposed to outside of it). With regard to the relationship between West Quay and the existing centre, Lowe argues that the opening of the West Quay centre has increased pedestrian traffic in Southampton city centre and reinforced pre-existing concentration trends in the central area. Turning to vacancy rates,she reports that there has been tenant movement from the city centre into West Quay, and increase in the level of vacancies the city centre which initially suggests a negative impact on the existing centre. However she claims that these vacancies have been filled with new entrants and that in fact vacancy rates have been fairly consistent since the 1990s. In conclusion she argues that the“West Quay effect” has not been as significant as perhaps was feared. With regard to the perceptions of the city as a retail and leisure destination,she argues that West Quay has been vital to the regeneration of Southampton, and that as a direct result of it there are three further schemes in the pipeline for development in the area. To balance the view provided by some of the stakeholders in the development, she recognises the need for further research to understand consumer opinion and behaviour with regard to the area and its developments. It might be useful to interview retailers within the wider area to assess their understanding of the impacts of the development.
Ruth Schmidt, Peter Jones and Brenda Oldfield provide a paper on implementing the Disability Discrimination Act and the comparison of responses from Manchester city centre and out-of -town retailers. This is an interesting development from an earlier article (Vol. 32, No. 9) in which they provided an overview of the employment challenges that face retailers and how some of the multiples have responded. In this article they report an observational case study of shopping facilities for a mobility impaired shopper in a Manchester city centre and out-of town location. As part of their recommendations they suggest that marketers should not treat this group separately, but realise the opportunities for enriching the retail offerings and servicescape for everyone.
In their paper, Anders Coca-Stefaniak and colleagues describe the association of SME retailers and businesses of Gran Centre Granollers. This centre arose in response to a change in consumer habits and growth of new retail format such as out of town shopping malls. However, this response has been seen as positive rather than simply reactionary. The small retailers realised that it was not enough to improve businesses independently and so they formed an initiative aimed to defend the city centre retail offer against out of town malls. In so doing they instigated change that led to an increased improvement in the quality of life of the residents and visitors. Their ambition was to make Gran Centre Granollers a city of culture and commerce. The paper goes on to describe how they attempted to do this and the operational objectives they specified in order to achieve this. They argue that the association has become one of the most successful trade association schemes and independently managed town centre management models in Spain. The paper then documents some of the initiatives undertaken by the association to ensure they encompass their approach of “city,culture and commerce”. This paper offers a unique case study and one which could usefully be used as a teaching aid, getting students to think creatively of how, and if, such an approach could work elsewhere and the potential benefits and drawbacks that might be associated with attempting to do this.
Adelina BroadbridgeUniversity of Stirling, Stirling, UK
