As mentioned yesterday FSP Managing Director, Geoff Nicholson, commented on the day's news regarding poor performance, store closures and retailer administrations, on Radio 5 Live.

A Summary:
 

Topic 1: Does the spate of poor news from retailers have a common cause or do each have a different explanation?

Geoff: General economic conditions are making life tough for all retailers and that it was the major cause of the problems for all the retailers. However, there are also individual explanations for each retailer.

Commenting on Edinburgh Woollen Mills taking over Jane Norman - I agree with the interviewer’s incredulity and opined that EWM had spotted a cheap source of additional space - they are not taking any Jane Norman Buying or Merchandising staff.

Topic 2: The future of the High Street.

Geoff: Retail conditions are very tough and there is no immediate prospect of improvement. This provides the backdrop to a fundamental change that needs to take place in town centres anyway.

Supermarkets and the internet are taking increasing shares of the retail market, so the recession is only sharpening a trend that is happening simultaneously. We should therefore treat the current situation as one of creative destruction, rather than out-moded retailing formats lingering on, they are being cleared out and forcing town centres to find a new role.

Retailing will constitute one part of the role but outside a few major centres, shopping alone will not be sufficient to provide a vibrant and viable town centre. Each town will have to find a locally unique reason to attract visitors.

I suggest that all the parties involved, local government, landlords and occupiers/retailers will have to co-operate to deliver a package of visitor attractions.
 

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