What else should be in the manifesto?

30-Jan-2010 8:34 pm

A significant contribution to a highstreet revival would be to find ways of lowering employment costs and encourage more staff in stores. The minimum wage, national insurance, business rates, to name but three are all driving stores to reduce staff to make ends meet during hard times. The security of a store and the customer service could be dramatically improved if lower employment costs were delivered. The unemployment rate would be improved with all the associated benefits .Stimulus payments for the Banks has soaked up billions, a mere few million on reducing these employment costs would be a drop in the' debt ocean' and could even be self financing.

1-Feb-2010 12:57 pm

Tim all good stuff, but unless we can get a central office within goverment the local goverment bodies will not take up the cause, if you want to lobby then i would push for David Cameron to take up the baton as once he has then labor will follow, the high street effects everyone we all have one we all use it to some degree so i am sure put across as an election issue it will gain support.

1-Feb-2010 5:32 pm

IMPORTANT - Please ensure you're signed in before inputting your comments into the box below. The system won't publish them if not, and they disappear into the ether unfortunately.

Also, while all comments are welcome, it would be preferable if you don't post anonymously but include your name - much better for when we send the comments on to the politicians.

Thanks for all your thoughts so far, and keep them coming!

1-Feb-2010 5:47 pm

Interesting that 8 out of the 10 points are addressed at agencies/bodies other than the retailers themselves! Far too many high street retailers have been far too lazy and/or incompetent for far too long, and can't now just rely on the actions of others to revitalise their business.

As a consumer there are three things which put me off shopping in 'high street' environments. One is cost and availability of parking (availability is just as important!! - there's nothing more irritating than driving round and round looking for spaces) - that's covered to an extent in this manifesto.

However the other 2 are 100% down to the retailers: firstly pleasant, polite service - and service that 'goes the extra mile'. If those staffing stores can't or won't smile and be polite to customers then they should be sent packing immediately. Secondly training - I've lost count of the number of times I've gone shopping, particularly for technology of various sorts, and it turns out that I know far more about the products on offer than the vacant, spotty youth employed to sell them.

The critical advantages of the high street over e-tail are personal service and good advice, yet too many retailers don't understand this, or can't be bothered getting off their backsides to address it. Frankly, those retailers deserve to fail.

2-Feb-2010 10:13 am

I read your Manifesto for the High Street with interest and welcome the points made. Our own research concurs that infrastructure, BIDs, partnership working and focusing on multichannel retailing are indeed key ways of maintaining a healthy high street in the 21st century.

However, one key aspect missing from the Manifesto is the vital role that skills play in successful business.

People and skills should be the number one priority for all retailers during these difficult trading conditions. All successful retailers now realise that if their businesses are to thrive in a competitive, multichannel operation, management and employees alike must have the skills that they need to steer the business on an ever-more hazardous path to success.

The recent growth of Apprenticeships and widespread support for the new National Skills Academy for Retail are testament to retailers’ commitment to skills and a clear sign that they see staff development as a vital part of a prosperous high street business of the future.

I truly believe that if retailers are to develop and grow in the 21st century, skills must be at the heart of their own manifestos and I urge all parts of the sector to recognise them as a key criteria for success on the high street in the years to come.

Martin Beaumont
Chair
Skillsmart Retail
The Sector Skills Council for Retail

3-Feb-2010 2:37 pm

Indies are suffering, higher rents, higher business rate, less foot fall, all of these issues are facts which make it difficult to exist on the high roads, Landlords agents have played a big factor in pushing the commercial rents upward in the past, they follow the rules set by the royal institute of charter surveyors, these rules have got to change to allow Indies to exist.

Diane
London

4-Feb-2010 12:35 pm

Your Manifesto for the High St coincides with worrying research published last week by the British Council of Shopping Centres into secondary shopping centres. The common denominator appears to be poor asset management and a lack of investment. Both have been caught on the hop by sudden changes in the way people shop nowadays; but who can blame shoppers when “out-of-town” and “on-line” offer easy access and low prices?
For almost three years the loyalty card initiative MyHomeTown (community-focused sister company to Insite Asset Management) has been pursuing its “Live your life on one card” vision, where existing retail loyalty programmes can combine with debit and credit cards to deliver a seamless and local experience for the shopper. Your call to action I hope will trigger a sense of urgency amongst those who depend on the success of our town centres (owners and occupiers alike), and whose energies and efforts must surely now be galvanised around the only thing that counts - the customer.
This Manifesto is therefore particularly relevant to MyHomeTown - timely too since its vision has now become a pilot programme which launches later this year. We want to improve the way people use their hometown:
1. We want to use shopping centres as an engaging and participative touch point for a location-based social networking platform, the purpose of which is to reinforce the sense of community and identity, making it a much richer experience.

2 We want to use web, mobile and Smartcards to help these businesses forge strong one-to-one relationships with their customers helping them to shift excess stock, or work with affiliates to offer relevant and personalised rewards like free parking or cinema seats, rather than them wasting money on old-fashioned marketing techniques that today’s consumers might soon pay to avoid.

3 We want to reward people for spending more time and money in our town centres, and we want to give them a chance to support those businesses that openly support them. We want a curated and localised programme of events that entertains and informs people about the responsibilities they have to themselves, their family and community and, to the wider world at large. This isn’t green-wash or more CSR lip service; this is a hard-nosed business opportunity to build brand value.


All of this might sound rather fanciful, if it wasn’t for the fact that we have now secured a large government grant, which will enable us to turn our vision into reality.

It seems to me that the competition has smartened up its act and it’s time our towns and cities did the same. The old system no longer works - it died the same day Lehman’s did.

It’s now the 21st century for real. Shopping and town centres must now modernise and step forward with confidence. I’m hoping your Manifesto takes us one-step nearer to this common vision.

Mike Riddell

7-Feb-2010 4:13 am

Parking is one of the issues – however I use “my High Streets” by walking to them (I use 3 different). So from a walker’s point of view safe walking is important as well as the possibility to take a rest – in a cafeteria or on a bench. Another issue is access to clean toilets. That’s from my private view.

Then from another angle I see as the biggest problem that retailers are many and not so organized. High Street retailers are a very heterogenic group with members from many different ethnic groups. The capability to:
-Organize and develop a specific High Street .
-To develop the concept of High Street retailing to adapt to “modern times”.
This is the challenge that is not too easy to achieve from such a relatively seen unorganized group.

10-Feb-2010 11:51 pm

Well Done Tim for getting the manifesto and campaign started. As a small business based on the longest High Street in Europe, I can relate to every single point on your list. In fact, I can write a thesis giving REAL everyday examples of pain suffered by businesses on Britain's High Streets, based on our experiences. Too often central and loal government officers are process driven and not results driven hence cannot clearly see that our high streets are dying a slow death. There is a very big gap beween what politicans decide and what the officers actually deliver on the ground. Much wastage also occcurs in the process. More businesss should engage with local politicians to work for a better shopping environment offer.


Parking is a big issue. Councils should make a provision to attract shoppers rather than deter them. For example, make Sundays and evenings free. Car Parking companies and councils should not try and penalise shoppers by high rates.

A big killer, of varied and interesting set of Enterprise, is the rental value on our High Streets. The escalating rents, specially with 5 yearly UPWARD ONLY RENT REVIEWS is a killer of good businesses. Landlords are ONLY interested in keeping their portfolio values high with total disregard to the economic situation. Too often the shops are left empty, attracting crime and bad look to the area. Absentee landlords do not have the interest or the passion to regenerate a high street.

Unless we all act unaminously and engage with and lobby our MPs, Council Leaders, etc. it ma be too late to arrest the decline of our High Streets.

You have my support !
Best of luck from a small business on a High Street.

11-Feb-2010 3:15 pm

Andrew. Certainly a pro-active approach and one I'm seeing elsewhere. Do you have any input in terms of tenant mix in your areas?