A different mix in the High Street?
Overview
Mary Portas, the so called Queen of Shops and author of the Governments guide to saving High Streets, suggests more social and less retail will be the future of High Street.
Published:
By: Simon Merry
Broadstone undoubtedly has a High Street but a Suburban or Village Centre perhaps better describes the arrangements of shops and businesses.
The environment is different to a city or town but it is at the centre of a a defined Ward of 10,000 residents, a community that both needs shops and services but also provides a local catchment of customers for those businesses.
In a Daily Telegraph article, found by clicking here , Mary Portas argues that we have become obsessed with High Streets being about retail and that the way forward is less commercial and more social, for example, more coffee shops, health clinics and creches.
Broadstone actually has a great retail offering with a choice of butchers, bakers, greengrocers, supermarkets, coffee shops and so on. It also has a mix of opticians, dentists, Drs surgeries and churches and other community based enterprise.Perhaps Mary Portas has somewhere like Broadstone in her mind!? As an aside, it It would be interesting to hear her view on the exchange of public toilets for the Use Our Loo Scheme?
Our own research has identified that visitors to Broadstone Village want to be welcomed, respected, have choice, value for money, be satisfied and feel safe. Do you think this is being delivered and what more can be done?
