Highstreet 2.0
It’s been a bad year for high street retail. Numerous brands have gone in to
administration with some gone forever.
The question on everyone’s lips isn’t “Do you think anyone else will
go?” but “Who will go next?
Where does this leave our high streets of towns and cities?
Can they thrive on coffee, poundshops, charities and banks? Unlike the shops
that have gone, the high street needs to adapt, innovate and change its
business model in order to stop declining and thrive once again.
But who needs to do this?
The people responsible for our high streets are the local
authorities where they reside. In many
cases this could be two or three different local authorities or in some cases a
single local authority will be responsible for hundreds of high streets. Under significant financial pressure
themselves, local authorities need thriving high streets, they create tax
revenue and create jobs easing the burden on social care costs
But what do they change
to and how?
Mary Portas makes some good recommendations in her recent
report to shift the emphasis to the business on the high street. How about shifting the emphasis of the high
street to public services – like going to town to pay your council tax, speak
to your councillor or hire a book from the library? Should public authorities move
out of their offices in to the high street and provide more services on a
Saturday afternoon? How about a high
street sure start centre in a old Blockbuster? Or the police station where HMV
used to be? Or a doctors surgery, dentist and library in the old Republic
clothing shop?
Hang on! – clogging up the high yield commercial outlets
public services isn’t going to generate more tax or jobs? No – it won’t. However, it will remove boarded up shop
fronts and add diversity to the high-street pulling in more customers for
commercial shops that in turn will create demand for more shops. Which can only
be a good thing for the high streets?
So – what do you think? Public service shops mixed in with
Starbucks, Primark and Boots?
