Shop Until You Drop Off - Future Retail Therapy

"Tesco could cut its  development pipeline by almost half over the next three years".
"As the Internet continues to encroach on sales, supermarkets must find a way to make the space they have work for them", so says Rachel Hunter in this weeks Property Week (10/2/12 p60)

"Supermarkets need to become more aspirational. People need a reason to go into stores", Neil Saunders of retail analysts Conlumino.

Blimey!! With even the retail master Tesco beginning to find life on the high street a tad challenging and the Government looking desperately to revitalise local shopping opportunities through Town Planning and the Portas effect, some serious questions have to be asked about whether the traditional retail format is going to survive. 

Well, of course it will, to an extent, for a little while longer. There are innumerable retail offers out there and we cannot survive based on some mega mall delivering to our every conceivable need - can we?

Arguably that is exactly what the Amazon's of this world have become. I have just done a quick search on that website and can order everything from Marmite and matches to caviar and pate de fois gras; even toilet rolls are available. Combine that with eBay and the more specialist online sellers of clothing, books, software, cars etc and one wonders whether there is really any need for a 'shop' at all. Postage is low cost or free, returns are straightforward and with a variety of cashless payment options the whole thing is simplicity itself. And that's in addition to the Tesco Direct's of this world and other online grocery ordering and delivery services. 

Maybe my aged contemporaries will still indulgently browse in a shop because that's what we were brought up on, but will tech savvy and time-poor future generations? Making a living is tough enough and dragging around shops with the kids on a wet saturday morning when it may be better to work, or simply rest and have some family time (having ordered online) certainly has its attractions. I think we are segwaying from a 'see it, want it, buy it now' mentality to a 'see it, want it at a good price and I'm prepared to wait a little for ease of purchase' mode. Not too catchy, but you get my point. 

A clear and present danger for the 'live' retailer is Joe Public turning up to review a product, compare and contrast with the alternatives and then pop online (whether blatently in the shop or back at home) and order at a lower cost. Even Argos must be wondering whether their expensively produced and circulated 'Laminated Book of Dreams' (Bill Bailey) is simply a handy reference guide for a purchase from someone else.

And in the mean time all those costs for rent and rates, staff, heating, lighting, insurances, maintenance, losses through theft, shop soiled wastage, public liability and planning and development ratchet up to an eye-watering amount that has to be reflected in the shop floor price. It's a no-win situation.

The jury is out on the future of retail but in the short term vacant space in stores could be used in a helpful way: as a drop point for online purchases that you can collect when carrying out other shopping. 

I stood in line at the post office for nearly an hour at Christmas, having missed the delivery man's nano-second appearance outside our house - just enough time for him to scrawl on a card with a collection time 24 hours hence. This is where the system falls down, as it cost me time, money and a deal of frustration to collect my online purchases.  

As we all continue to work longer hours there may be no one at home when the delivery man calls and having to make a special trip to collect purchases will frustrate the flexibility of the system. So why not have an option to collect from your local Tesco's (or other such store). Delivery is more straightforward and less costly, being to fewer locations, the retailer can use space effectively and may hope to attract additional purchases at the same time. With a text/email notification of delivery the punter can collect en-route to or from work (or over the extended store times - some up to 24hrs) and if for some reason they cannot make it straight away, they know it is not too challenging to get to on the next shopping trip. Perhaps such purchases can be added to the grocery delivery service to save even that trip.

The internet age is upon us in many ways and whilst the 'High Street' is not destined to evaporate any time soon there are clearly new retail agenda's to consider and adapt too. If you cant beat 'them', then maybe joining them in a limited way could help everyone.

Caravans. Don’t you just love to hate them?

As the debacle over the Dale Farm traveller site continues to echo around the airwaves this morning you could be forgiven for asking yourself, why for heavens’ sake am I even considering raising the issue of the potential offered by residential caravans in meeting some of our future housing needs.

“You want to do WHAT!!” I can hear you now, choking on your ciabatta and reaching for the email address of The Times letters page.

Well here’s the thing. A significant proportion of the UK population live in the modern version of residential caravans - ‘Park Homes’ – and very happy they are too. But because of some latent prejudice or simple lack of awareness they are consistently overlooked as a means of helping to address our woefully short supply of new housing. In fact over the last 20 years or so the Town Planning system has contrived to ‘plan-out’ residential caravans from the housing market.

I should know. I’ve been advising the Caravan Industry for over 30 years to an extent that some now refer to me as ‘Mr Caravan’ and I have witnessed the relentless demise of permissions for residential caravan parks throughout that period.

“Jolly good show too” you might harrumph. “Don’t need those SORT of people in our community”. “Why can’t they live in a proper house like the rest of us”. Thanks for that. I’ll let my parents know.

There are nearly ¼ million people living in some 100,000 Park Homes on approximately 2,000 licensed Park Home Estates in Britain today; and these numbers exclude the more particular needs of the traveller and gypsy community.

Who are these ‘caravan’ people then? And what do they want with our planet?

Government research shows that about a third of households living in Park Homes are made up of a couple, one or both of whom are aged 60 or over; a further quarter are single people of 60 or over. There are a small number of young singles and families, but in the main the market is targeted at the semi and retired over 55’s and the Park Home industry has evolved to satisfy their requirements.

A key driver is the opportunity to acquire a high quality home at lower relative cost than bricks and mortar, thereby releasing equity to top up a pension perhaps, whilst also benefitting from a more secure and community focused living environment. That’s what my Mum and Dad did. Having lived in London and Bristol they moved back to the family roots in Cornwall and bought a Park Home on a delightful site in a wooded valley close to Falmouth and spent 14 blissful years there, making friends, taking part in the local community and successfully eking out Dad’s pension.

Yes, they had double glazing and central heating, running water and a flush loo. No, they didn’t need to convert the settee every night into a bed and could cook quite happily on a real gas cooker. Mum pottered in the manageable garden and Dad tooled leather and turned wooden bowls on a lathe in his shed. They were happier there than I think I’ve seen them anywhere.

So what’s the problem? Let these ‘weirdo’s’ do their thing. They’re harmless enough.

The trouble is achieving planning permissions. The Park Home sector is not encouraged, and in some areas positively (and wholly unjustifiably) discouraged by Authorities to the extent that nationally the number of new planning consents has dried up to less than the dribble from a Bactrian camel on a hot day.

At a time when Grant Shapps MP (Minister for Housing and Local Government) rightly waxes lyrical about the role of self-builders and even houseboats as a means of addressing housing need, support for the long-established and arguably more straightforward proposition of creating more Park Home Estates is noticeable by its absence.

Yes. I know there have been issues about poor park management in some areas. But the same is true across the whole housing sector and we don’t see house-builders denied consents en-masse because one or two bad boys built some dodgy houses once upon a time. You might as well shut down all tenanted property on that basis too as a result of the excesses of Mr Peter Rachman. The problem for Park Homes is more cultural than that.

I have prepared a short statement (see link below) setting out the key issues and demonstrating why Park Homes should be supported and encouraged. In that document I have also drafted the beginnings of a Supplementary Planning Guidance document that might be helpful in LDF and other policy debates. Perhaps, given demographic trends, some recognition of Park Homes’ particular market role will help in meeting needs that are increasingly going unmet by the mainstream house-builders.

Next Thursday (9^th Feb) sees the Annual convention of the British Holiday and Home Park Association (BHHPA) at The QE2 Centre in London, hence the reason for my bringing this matter up now. Here is an ideal opportunity for Government to reaffirm their commitment to Park Home living as a reasonable and appropriate element of the housing market and give some much needed guidance to Authorities throughout the land that caravans should not be treated as sub-standard or an unsustainable forms of living. They have just as much right to be a part of a diverse housing market as houseboats or anything else for that matter and permissions should not be denied on (faux) policy grounds essentially founded in issues of ‘perception’, ‘appearance’ or sheer bloody minded prejudice.

Enjoy your lunch!

The Statement can be accessed here:

http://www.ruralurbanplanning.co.uk/PARK%20HOMES%20-%20Their%20Future%20Contribution%20to%20Housing.pdf