“Retail is not dead, it’s changing”

Friday 10 November 2017

Around 30 of the island’s top retail leaders, experts and influencers have put their heads together to discuss how the island can flourish amid challenging times for the high street.

High street professionals heard about the importance of retail to the visitor economy and the upcoming challenges yesterday during a workshop by the Institute of Place Management (IPM).

IPM Professors Dominic Medway and Cathy Parker presented a footfall analysis comparing St Helier to the UK, which found the town centre to be performing well in what is currently a difficult climate. 

Supporting both the local economy and visitor community puts the island’s capital into the category of ‘Speciality Town’, meaning that both needs have to be nurtured. Nonetheless, its unusually predictable patterns of footfall mean that it can still be flexible to try new ideas. Collecting data in order to make better informed decisions was also a focal point of discussions.

St Helier is more resilient than some U.K. Towns. Footfall is predictable which supports trying new ideas pic.twitter.com/aMWbgjNxny

— Daphne East (@StHelierTCM) November 9, 2017

While she describes St Helier as “vibrant”, Town Centre Manager Daphne East told Express that it was still affected by footfall trends and that it was therefore vitally important “to collectively create ways to drive footfall into the town centre.”

She praised the workshop for helping achieve just that, and applauded the warm reception it received from retail and government workers alike.

“A quote I especially liked was, 'retail is not dead, it's changing’. This highlights the requirement for retailers to change with the times… Overall, it was noted that we all have ownership to change the future of our Town Centre and retailers present recognised this point."

Pictured: The IPM explained that St Helier was a 'Speciality Town', meaning that it has to serve both locals and tourists.

Meryl Le Feuvre, Visit Jersey’s Head of Product, added: “Retail is an important component of the visitor experience, particularly as we seek to grow Jersey’s visitor economy year-round. The island’s retailers have an opportunity to offer visitors an authentic retail experience that celebrates Jersey unique sense of place. We are keen to work in partnership with the Jersey Retail Association to develop the retail offer and offer a fantastic visitor experience.”