Cheshire

0

1st July has seen the adoption of our new logo developed for us by Cypher Digital in Milnthorpe.

The refreshing style reflects our commitment to the high street and our role advising, motivating, mentoring and supporting to the needs of the independent retail sector.

Working either directly with private clients or reaching greater sections of the retail community through business or economic development initiatives being delivered thorough  local councils we develop and deliver bespoke programmes individually orienated toward meeting the need of the particular trading environment or retail sector involved.

0

The Shop Doctor visited Congleton and Macclesfield Visitor Information Centres on Wednesday 15th June to assess opportunities to help improve commerciality and retail performance.

With increasing pressure on the available levels of public sector funding support required to sustain information provision it is essential that routes be found to make such Centres more commercially orientated, but in a manner that does not compromise information delivery.

In South Lakeland TIC provision is no longer generally provided by the local authority with management recently being passed to a disparate range of operators including the Cumbria Chamber of Commerce in Kendal, Lakes Hospitality Association in Windermere, and over the last three years by a private operator in Ambleside where TIC service is succesfully delivered through The Hub within the combined Post Office/TIC/Gift Shop

0

Between the 1st and 3rd June the Shop Doctor visited a further 6 high street business based in Middlewich, 2 in Crewe and 1 in Nantwich Cheshire to identify solutions to help reinvigorate trading vitality.

In addition to the in store advice received from the Shop Doctor during each of the surgery visits each business will receive a written prescriptions report summarising observations made during the visit and recommendations as to how cost effective improvements might be enabled.

This latest programme of support activity is funded by Middlewich Town Council and Cheshire East Council.

0

TV Retail ‘Guru’ Mary Portas has today been asked by David Cameron to come up with a plan to help turn around the fortunes of our ailing High Streets.

Central to the review – ordered by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – is the worrying level of sales in town centres, which have dramatically under-performed other locations.

Government figures show that between 2005 and 2010, town-centre sales grew by a paltry 1.5%, while those in out of town shopping centres grew 11.5% and non-store (mail order and internet) soared by 71.5%.

As our ‘Shop Doctor’ knows only too well there will be no simple solutions as the picture across the country is extremely complex and compounded by a range of issues that range from the costs associated with operating on the High Street , the state of the local economy, customer demographic and how supermarkets and out of town retail activities interface with the towns themselves.

Underlying this is the poor condition of many of our High Street environments, parking charges and accessibility and the individual presentation of the shops within them – and then there are the challenges of the varying levels of customer service experiences and customer perception (or misperception) of what it actually costs to shop in the High Street.

Read more about this issue from Retail Gazette here

0

 8 rural businesses in Cheshire East will be receiving a ‘surgery’ visit from the Shop Doctor during April.

Shops in Gawsworth, Cholmondeley and Sutton have already been visited  enabling the Shop Doctor to evaluate issues impacting on business performance and helping identify cost effective solutions to develop sales.

Each of the shops provides a bespoke service to its local community from the one month old (and extremely well presented) community shop operating with a paid manager and 23 volunteers in Gawsworth to the superbly equipped and stocked Farm Shop at Cholmondeley and the wide convenience offering at Sutton Lane Ends.

Opportunities were identified at each shop and these will be incorporated into a comprehensive written recommendations ‘prescription’ highlighting routes to enhance performance.

0

‘Shop Doctor’ Bill Smith has recently been working with Cheshire East Council advising 22 retailers across Nantwich , Middlewich and Sandbach how to improve their retail vitality.

A ‘Let’s Talk Shop Retail Masterclass’ was also delivered which challenged those attending to think about how they present their businesses and what they could achieve by implementing some simple changes.

The visits were the first phase of a programme that will see more ‘Shop Doctor’ activity in Cheshire East over the coming months.