Expert Eye with

John Shepherd

Owner and Managing Director of Partridges

  • “We need to talk about Christmas”

    12 February 2019 Expert Eye
    In the final article I wrote at the end of last year I suggested it could be a successful Christmas based on the fact that there were four ‘good’ shopping Saturdays before the big day. Another theory bites the dust!

  • “2018: the year that was”

    04 January 2019 Expert Eye
    Out of the 46 years we have been trading, the year 2018 has been one of the most remarkable

  • “A shop for all seasons”

    08 November 2018 Expert Eye
    As we retailers are just about to enter our busiest season, “it is a truth universally acknowledged” that there are not only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Four Colly Birds and the Four Tops but also Four Seasons in every year.

  • “Late Bloomers”

    12 October 2018 Expert Eye
    This summer I stumbled across two facts that in particular stuck in my mind.

  • “Summer Report 2018”

    27 August 2018 Expert Eye
    So far this summer for us at Partridges it’s been about 1 Royal Wedding, 2 heatwaves and 3 Lions and apologies yet again for being about to use the W word (that is weather by the way)

  • “The rise of shrinkage”

    17 July 2018 Expert Eye
    When times are tough for shopkeepers, several aspects of running a business take on a greater significance. Take shrinkage for example.

  • “Spring Report 2018”

    01 June 2018 Expert Eye
    "It was the winter of our discount eggs” would be an apt description of spring and Easter this year. (My sincerest apologies to the Bard by the way)

  • “A perfect storm”

    20 April 2018 Expert Eye
    The expression 'A Perfect Storm’ has been used in the media a lot recently to describe current business conditions in the UK

  • “Refurb – a leap of faith”

    16 March 2018 Expert Eye
    The importance of being furbished has nothing to do with one of Oscar Wilde’s great works, although retailing has often been described as pure theatre. Rather it relates to the general desire at this time of the year to improve and...

  • “The Goldilocks zone”

    03 November 2017 Expert Eye
    What has trading been like so far in 2017 at Partridges? The answer is on the whole not very good. Nothing to write home about or even an article about
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