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| It's time the experts took their share of blame for high street woes | It's time the experts took their share of blame for high street woes |
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| What a week so far on the high street! Tuesday brought us the retail sales figures for December, a barometer as to how the sector has performed. The figures were largely flat. However, strip away online sales out of the total and like-for-like sales in bricks and mortar shopping actually declined by about 1%. Factor in inflation and, yes, there is a major problem. | What a week so far on the high street! Tuesday brought us the retail sales figures for December, a barometer as to how the sector has performed. The figures were largely flat. However, strip away online sales out of the total and like-for-like sales in bricks and mortar shopping actually declined by about 1%. Factor in inflation and, yes, there is a major problem. |
| A day later the carnage began. Jessops entered administration putting at risk 192 stores. Now much-troubled HMV has announced that it is starting massive discounting - not a standard January sale, but trying to yield cash to meet bank covenants. Its share price fell 6.63%. So who is to blame for the decline of the high street? That is a question I often hear asked. Of course, Government, local authorities and bad retailers are all prime suspects. But look further along the line and you'll find plenty of more professional groups who've presided over the gradual deterioration of shopping areas in our towns and cities. The difference being that many of these received pats on the back for doing so. One of these is the Association of Town Centre Management which describes itself as 'the driving force for delivery of urban policy'. Town centre managers have become a familiar sight in towns across the country for over 20 years now, and were well-established long before the high street started to slide towards its current nadir. But listening to the rhetoric of ATCM chief executive Martin Blackwell, you'd think they were a new vanguard movement. One of the problems in trying to bring about change is clearing sufficient space to let in new ideas and fresh blood. And, as we all know urban regeneration is a very crowded space with many advisers, some there thanks to Government largesse. Some of this largesse has funded ATCM 'special advisors' in each of the English regions which come with the promise of supporting the "vibrancy and vitality" of town centres. Reading about these developments in the trade press, it's hard to see how they're making a difference at the coalface where I operate. Blackwell and his troops seem less concerned about the deep structural problems facing retail than with the promised land they are leading us towards. Their latest press release, for example, talks of | A day later the carnage began. Jessops entered administration putting at risk 192 stores. Now much-troubled HMV has announced that it is starting massive discounting - not a standard January sale, but trying to yield cash to meet bank covenants. Its share price fell 6.63%. So who is to blame for the decline of the high street? That is a question I often hear asked. Of course, Government, local authorities and bad retailers are all prime suspects. But look further along the line and you'll find plenty of more professional groups who've presided over the gradual deterioration of shopping areas in our towns and cities. The difference being that many of these received pats on the back for doing so. One of these is the Association of Town Centre Management which describes itself as 'the driving force for delivery of urban policy'. Town centre managers have become a familiar sight in towns across the country for over 20 years now, and were well-established long before the high street started to slide towards its current nadir. But listening to the rhetoric of ATCM chief executive Martin Blackwell, you'd think they were a new vanguard movement. One of the problems in trying to bring about change is clearing sufficient space to let in new ideas and fresh blood. And, as we all know urban regeneration is a very crowded space with many advisers, some there thanks to Government largesse. Some of this largesse has funded ATCM 'special advisors' in each of the English regions which come with the promise of supporting the "vibrancy and vitality" of town centres. Reading about these developments in the trade press, it's hard to see how they're making a difference at the coalface where I operate. Blackwell and his troops seem less concerned about the deep structural problems facing retail than with the promised land they are leading us towards. Their latest press release, for example, talks of |
an exciting step change that will involve many players in exploring the future of familiar places which face major social, economic and technological changes. They are places of commerce, trade, services, entertainment and education. This much we know, but what else? What of the future? | an exciting step change that will involve many players in exploring the future of familiar places which face major social, economic and technological changes. They are places of commerce, trade, services, entertainment and education. This much we know, but what else? What of the future? |
| The question is left hanging like fog. Perhaps the view would be clearer at the ATCM's Government-funded 100 ways to help the high street website. Here, I found advice to turn an empty shop into a town team office, make sure town centre managers understood the strategic direction of the town centre in order to entice investment and don't be shy – communicate your achievements. The view is clear all right. It clearly fails to venture even as far as one millimetre beyond stating the obvious, while high streets slide further into irretrievable decline. Back in 2008 when the recession hit the high street, was there any urgency on the part of town centre managers to start tackling deep-rooted structural problems? It took four years before there was serious talk of the need to transform high streets and start replacing a model that had long ceased to be relevant. Equally, have town centre managers challenged poor planning, failed regeneration and the litany of expensive failures by local authorities to support the high street? Of course not – because town centre managers are largely funded by councils. The same applies with holding central government to account. While every single body with any interest in the high street was crying foul over the Government's unfair decision to postpone this year's business rates evaluation – a decision which means many small traders will have to pay inflated rates until 2017 – there was one notable absentee from the chorus of anger. The ATCM kept schtum. But despite presiding over a decline they never saw coming, failing to stand up to local authorities and government and represent small businesses on the ground, the ATCM is holding master classes all over the country and is the Government's preferred partner to deliver support and advice on how to improve the high street. It was Malcolm Gladwell who said expert failure was the defining kind of failure for our age. What we need from experts, he argued, is not expertise but humility. A show of humility and willingness to admit mistakes from the regeneration professionals would be a start. And getting out of the way to let other ideas have a chance would be the best thing they could do to help the high street. | The question is left hanging like fog. Perhaps the view would be clearer at the ATCM's Government-funded 100 ways to help the high street website. Here, I found advice to turn an empty shop into a town team office, make sure town centre managers understood the strategic direction of the town centre in order to entice investment and don't be shy – communicate your achievements. The view is clear all right. It clearly fails to venture even as far as one millimetre beyond stating the obvious, while high streets slide further into irretrievable decline. Back in 2008 when the recession hit the high street, was there any urgency on the part of town centre managers to start tackling deep-rooted structural problems? It took four years before there was serious talk of the need to transform high streets and start replacing a model that had long ceased to be relevant. Equally, have town centre managers challenged poor planning, failed regeneration and the litany of expensive failures by local authorities to support the high street? Of course not – because town centre managers are largely funded by councils. The same applies with holding central government to account. While every single body with any interest in the high street was crying foul over the Government's unfair decision to postpone this year's business rates evaluation – a decision which means many small traders will have to pay inflated rates until 2017 – there was one notable absentee from the chorus of anger. The ATCM kept schtum. But despite presiding over a decline they never saw coming, failing to stand up to local authorities and government and represent small businesses on the ground, the ATCM is holding master classes all over the country and is the Government's preferred partner to deliver support and advice on how to improve the high street. It was Malcolm Gladwell who said expert failure was the defining kind of failure for our age. What we need from experts, he argued, is not expertise but humility. A show of humility and willingness to admit mistakes from the regeneration professionals would be a start. And getting out of the way to let other ideas have a chance would be the best thing they could do to help the high street. |
| Paul Turner-Mitchell owns Rochdale's 25 Ten boutique, writes columns for Drapers and Retail Week and contributed to Mary Portas' high street review. | Paul Turner-Mitchell owns Rochdale's 25 Ten boutique, writes columns for Drapers and Retail Week and contributed to Mary Portas' high street review. |
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