Planning Indie Retail?

Julian Dobson’s latest blog post, Shopping centres: At the heart of the community? reminded me of a thought that occurred to me recently, and what is this blog for if not holding random thoughts I have about regeneration and the like…?

It was sparked by the recently opened row of shops at the bottom of the new student accommodation block that’s just been built at the end of my street. There are three shops open (with a fourth being fitted out I think) - a Greggs, a Caffe Nero, and a small Co-op supermarket. Not a terrible mix, but disappointing that they’re all national chains.

At least the supermarket is a Co-op - providing some much needed diversity in the local supermarket scene. Of the supermarkets I could (and do) easily walk to, there’s now one Co-op; two Sainsburys; an Aldi; four Tesco Expresses and two bigger Tescos. All bar the Aldi and bigger Tescos are of the smaller convenience store size. If I get on my bike, I can take in another Tesco Metro, Aldi and Asda. Anyway, the Tescopoly in Liverpool is a different issue.

It seems such a common pattern - new build goes up, all the retail is identikit chains rather than local businesses (I’m glossing over the fact that some could be franchises as that’s just a middle-ground). Is it just because that’s an easier sell for the developer? Or don’t they get any local applicants because the lead time is too long?

I don’t know, but for housing it’s pretty common for a chunk of the new development to be mandated as “social housing” as a condition of the planning application. There are issues with that, but it’s a step in the right direction. Could, should, the same apply to the retail units? What if a proportion of the retail units in any development had to be “indie retail”, and could only be taken by independent businesses? That would be one way to encourage Julian’s fourth suggestion, without having to rely on the benevolence of the shopping centre owners.