The High Street

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

• Becoming a B Corp
• Top trend predictions for Christmas 2021
• Self-sacrifice: The importance of building a leadership legacy centred on others
• Undercover Boss
• Can/should bosses really be close friends with their staff?

I have talked in the past about the pressure on the High Street and don’t want to re-visit old ground, but since the New Year three well-known High Street chains have gone into administration and as I write probably have gone forever: Jessops, HMV and Blockbusters

It has been observed that all three were under pressure from on-line companies that can out-compete them on price and sometimes availability.  It may be good to pause and think of what our High Streets may look like in a few years, when an even higher percentage of consumers are shopping on-line and more familiar chains have gone out of business.

What can’t you buy on-line?  Well, quite a lot!  Get your hair done. Have any physiotherapy, beauty treatment, osteopathy, dentistry, etc..  Have a coffee. Eat out.  So generally anything that involves your body!  Either putting things into it or taking things off!  Also doing things to possessions: cleaning or altering clothes, repairing computers etc…  However, try before you buy is important to people, so I suspect that fewer people buy shoes on-line than other clothes, and whilst mail-order clothes are able to be sent back, there is a need for instant gratification here – just ask the females in my house!  So I do think there is a future for high street clothes shops.  Just as there has to be a big future for high street food shops.  Whilst on-line food retail is still growing rapidly – Ocado posted some great pre-Christmas figures this year – there is a desire from consumers to see what they are buying.  Commodities that require no thought can easily be bought on-line, but where knowledge is required and questions are involved then the high street shop beats everything else hands-down.

There remains a large opportunity to educate the population of the UK about food.  There have been great steps forward over the last 10-15 years, but more knowledge is required.  The high street retailers should be known as the experts in their field and people to go to for advice and information not just to buy from.  What is the best cut of meat for this recipe?  What are the best fish at present for this type of dish? What is the best new cheese you have run across recently?  When will you be doing a tasting of these sauces? Can I try some of these olives? What time does your bread come out of the oven?  And so on!  If members of the public are persuaded that there is a lot to know, they will ask the experts.

By the way I am more convinced, despite the recent snow, that speciality retailers are going to have a fabulous year.  The reception to the new products in our catalogue has been fantastic – and as they have empty shelves after Christmas, lots of room for them.  Well, I’d better go and dig the car out of the snow, yet again we seem to have more of the ‘white stuff’ than most – ahh that’s another high street retailer!

Have a good week.