Local economic development

One of our areas of experience is in helping to revitalise town and village centres. We do this by conducting research amongst representative samples of the local population to find out their shopping and lifestyle patterns and determine what would encourage them to visit and support their local high streets more often. The key is to understand that each specific town or village has its individual needs, and our major concern about the government review is that Mary Portas is being asked to generalise about what will make town centres work. A tailor-made approach is needed to find out what will revitalise a particular location, rather than a plan based on a success story elsewhere.

It’s also vital to ensure that the surveys are representative of the local community, not simply reflecting the views of a self-selecting minority who have taken the time to respond to a general invitation to contribute, which very many others may not have seen.

We often work alongside the Metamorphosis Group, which over the past four years has transformed many towns and villages, working with more than 2,000 independent retailers on what they call ‘Retail Vitality Projects’. Through effective collaboration with retailers, Metamorphosis has developed an approach that has been proven to restore retail vitality in struggling economies – increasing retail sales, attracting new retailers to areas that were once struggling, improving leader and management motivation and confidence, and encouraging businesses to work together by celebrating and promoting all that makes an independent retailer so unique.

To view representative examples of our work in this area please click the links below:

Case Study: Town Centre Markets
Case Study: Local Food and Drink Festival
Case Study: Home-based Business Research