086: The Future Of High Streets

We’ve heard about the “death of the high street” for a long time. But as the UK’s non-essential physical stores reopen after coronavirus lockdown, it’s clear that physical retail isn’t dead. Nor is the high street for that matter. In fact, there could be a bright future for high streets. So, in this episode, Oliver Banks is joined by two place experts, Clare Bailey, the Retail Champion, and Roger Smith, the founder of insight agency, Grounded. Together, they explore the opportunities retailers, towns and cities have with physical places. The future of the high street is exciting and will be critical for a successful future of physical retail.

Listen to this episode to discover:

• Is there a future for physical places (hint, yes) and what are the key elements.
• Is there a difference between high streets, shopping centres and malls, out of town retail parks?
• How can relevant parties play a part?

 

 

Introducing Clare Bailey

Clare Bailey is known as the Retail Champion. She’s founded several small businesses and one of the most well-known and respected retail experts in the UK. She’s a speaker, an author and regularly appears on TV and on radio to discuss retail and the future of the high street.

Clare has worked in a variety of roles for McDonalds, M&S, Dixons and Argos. She later moved into senior consulting roles with SAP followed by management consultant, Accenture.

Clare also hosts the Future High Street Summit, a conference to help councils, town teams, business improvement districts (BIDs) and solution providers the opportunity to share their ideas. Ultimately, providing the platform to forge a more prosperous future high street.

Email Clare on clare@groundedplaces.com

Connect with Clare Bailey on LinkedIn

Follow on Twitter (@cbretailexpert)

Introducing Roger Smith

Roger Smith is the Founder and Director at Grounded, a shopper led research agency. By blending shopper research and insight with practical retail experience, Roger helps clients to uncover issues and opportunities as your customer see them. By building shopper led change strategies, you can be sure to transform in a relevant way.

Prior to founding Grounded, Roger held senior roles in research and insight as well as worked for electronics retailer Comet for 20 years.

Email Roger on roger@groundedplaces.com

Connect with Roger Smith on LinkedIn

Find out more about Grounded on GroundedShopper.com

Grounded Places: overcoming issues with local places

Clare and Roger together are co-founders of Grounded Places. This is a new business aimed at helping Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), town centre managers, local authorities and councils to improve their local places. By uncovering the issues and opportunities that exist locally, Grounded Places can help create a local centre for retail and the community.

Find out more at GroundedPlaces.com

Watch the discussion from the first Retail Transformation Live

Clare Bailey and Roger Smith were both speakers at the first Retail Transformation Live event. They were joined by retail consultant, Graham Soult, and President of Engagement Agents, Sean Snyder, to explore the future high street.

This session received brilliant reviews from attendees. So, if you enjoyed this podcast episode, you may also enjoy watching this too.