Retail Symposium 2016 At The House Of Commons With Mary Portas

24 Mar Retail Symposium 2016 At The House Of Commons With Mary Portas

Paul Sharman , Director of Sharman Projects (pictured with David Pollock of British Land and Nick Health of LondonMetric) was one of the 100 retail property professionals invited to the House of Commons for Corstorphine + Wright’s 2016 Retail Symposium.

Guest Speaker, Mary Portas, spoke on the Future of Retail, discussing how changing consumer shopping tastes and expectations are transforming the future of the retail industry. Other guests included representatives from  British Land, NewRiver Retail, Land Securities, Standard Life Investments, Transport for London, LCR, LondonMetric, IM Properties, Tellon Capital, Wrenbridge and Waitrose.

Paul Sharman has seen at first hand the move to ‘destination and experience’ discussed by Mary Portas and has implemented this approach on recent schemes, for example Whiteley Shopping Centre in Hampshire and Kirkstall Bridge Shopping Park in Leeds. People are still going to shopping centres if they are the right type, with food and beverage being crucial to that mix, but the internet is having an impact. Building modern and engaging places to shop is key to going beyond expectations to create an enhanced shopper experience and therefore, build value, drive sales, and boost loyalty.

Adapting and catering to the shopping revolution which is taking place helps to ensure stores are set to have a bright future. We continue to engage in the strategic moves necessary to ensure the ‘Future of Retail’ remains in bricks, as well as clicks!

Many thanks to Corstorphine + Wright Architects for hosting such an interesting event.