https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/wren-kitchens-announce-plans-ventura-15657011
 |
| image used from http://www.midlandsbusinessnews.co.uk/businesses-in-exciting-bid-to-unite-tamworth-town-centre-and-ventura-retail-parks/tamworth-cropped-os-map-v2-approximate-area-for-web/ |
As ever this story has garnered some opinion on social media so I thought I'd share mine and I'm going to do this is two parts, firstly about Wren Kitchens and the other potential clients and secondly my view on the broader debate.
I am really pleased to see Wren Kitchens come to Tamworth (I'm NOT in the market for a new kitchen). For me this represents a new stage in the retail offer Tamworth has, complementing Bensons for beds, oak furniture land etc. as a shift from 'convenience' shopping further and further down the line of quality bespoke goods. The draw of such products reaches far beyond the boundary of Tamworth and Staffordshire. bringing spend and secondary spend into Tamworth as well as employment. We are slowly building a reputation as a place to buy good quality products whether its a car, kitchen or furniture.
I see regularly the comment whenever a company chooses to invest in Tamworth that we "should have" or "need" a Primark. can someone please convince me what the argument is and why we need a Primark. We can already shop for relatively cheap clothing with ASDA, Matalan etc, step up to the next level of spend with Next, New Look, Outfit, JD or M&S. so whats the fascination with Primark too? My personal opinion of Primark is one of those which fuels consumerism for the sake of consumerism, yes I'm generalising and primark does fill a gap in the market, but in Today's age we have mountains of waste building up of cheap unwanted furniture, t-shirts and vest tops in every colour of the rainbow just being used once or twice and thrown away.
Companies come to Tamworth to make money and if they believe they can make a profit, these decisions aren't made on the hoof they are made as a result on very fine detailed analysis of information about footfall, spend levels regional draw, competition etc etc, And this brings me onto the second part- the broader debate.
The broader debate.
Tamworth, retail and the retail revolution.
Tamworth has for many years been debating the conflict between the Town centre and Ventura park, one of the few tools that Tamworth Borough Council has in this is the Local Plan Policy that units outside of the town centre must be of a minimum size large and where possible sell larger goods thus attempting to reduce the competition with the offer of the town centre, This is somewhat high level but the council simply does not have powers to get directly involved in retail.
Time for another reminder. Tamworth Borough Council does not set rent (aside from the few shops it owns) does not set business rates, does not run shops, does not have any say on what shops run their business in Tamworth (unless they need a license).
So the Challenge-
Whats the impact of the Internet?
Why do stores choose to come to or not to come to Tamworth.
I worry about the future of retail shops full stop, and have said this before, with the onset of the Internet more and more spend is shifting away from shopping trips and more to sofa shopping. I know that in my household around 80% of Christmas presents were bought on line, the majority of which was delivered next day to my front door. This has been the same for the last three years and seems somewhat less stressful and easier than visiting stores,
Now the worry is everyone does the same as my household we end up with less and less shops in either Tamworth's Town centre or Tamworth's Retail centre. so what can be done to save these assets. both others and I have speculated about stores offering samples would become prevalent and your purchases are made with the good being delivered to your property at an agreed time, so bridging the gap between traditional stores, Argos, and amazon. As time goes by I'm not sure this is actually going to become mainstream across the full range of products on offer in our stores,
There are items though that will always attract that touchy feel purchasing and these include cars, furniture, kitchens, carpets etc where the purchaser has an experience spends time considering options and making very personal choices which you simply can't do on a glass or plastic screen.
So for me the Internet retail revolution is a danger to Tamworth's retail offer but i feel the stores here are beginning to look towards what I've described. (including Wren)
Earlier I raised the question why do store choose to come to or not to come to Tamworth. whilst this is complex there are some simple things we can pull out of the methodology. I must state thou first, if you talk to people from Tamworth the competition is between the town centre and retail centre of ventura park if you talk to one of these stores looking at Tamworth its the competition between ANY part of Tamworth and Cannock, Burton, Solihull, Stoke, etc.
For many years prior to the aspiration of a Primark many people in Tamworth wanted to see a Marks and Spencers, eventually we got one but it was a long journey. The key to many decision is not just location, infrastructure and the like but relates to data held about spend per head of visitor. Many stores are now in Tamworth and would never have come to the town centre because the average spend per head of customer was below their threshold. this is no longer the case at our retail park. larger brands with higher spends attract other higher brands with higher spends. of course this also means employment opportunities and growth in the local economy.
The key for me to the retail challenge is ensuring we get ahead of the curve in terms of retail as a leisure and link into eateries, beauty, fitness and well being. Tamworth geography and growth puts us in a great place to continue to thrive if we look forward and embrace the challenge not back at what we thought we had.
