Designing Independence

As well as the glamorous cosmopolitan cities there are the town centres and high streets of the UK. How do you promote places that are losing their character and becoming ‘clone towns’, where large brands dominate the high street and slowly erode a destinations identity?

The decline and rapid disappearance of many of Britain’s Independent stores and traditional shops has long been a major call for concern from many associated and connected to the retail industry.

Many people are attributing the downfall of Independent retailers to a mixture of local and national government policies, the aggressive business manner of large retailers and an a open-minded approach taken by the competition authorities in the UK.

The paradox is that socially there is a discernible trend by consumers to rediscover the urban shopping experience, an opportunity being exploited by Tesco Metro, Sainsbury Local, M&S Simply Food et al. But the convenience store seems to be letting this pass them by.

What role if any can design play in the long-term future of the independent retailing industry. What point would there be to going in and giving your local shop a new logo and ripping out the interior and replacing it with a brand new one when there is no strategy or framework to support it?

'It would be like putting up the wall paper before you have built the wall'

I believe that to survive independents must evolve but there is always that fine line between radical change and incremental change if you rip out the soul of the store those things that make it special you may as well be Tesco.