ATCM creates high street framework

With retail currently in a state of flux and management

ever looking at ways to benefit bricks and mortar from online and multichannel propositions, it seems many are confused at exactly where retail is heading and why some high streets have remained successful, whilst others are dominated by ending buildings and vacant signs. In a bid to give some guidance on what methods are so far working, The Association of Town Centre Management has been commissioned to create a framework for the UK's first retail Pathfinder to understand how high streets become successful.

Commissioned by the Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, the project will look into retail aspects from account local heritage, culture and local communities in addition to economic performance. Andres Coca-Stefaniak, international & research partnerships manager at the ATCM, explained: "Recent reports from the UK Government and the European Commission point out that successful town and city centres adopt a holistic approach to their offer to visitors, residents and businesses, with diverse retail still at the heart of it but also making the best of their local heritage, culture and local communities.

"This project will help us to further explore this concept and offer recommendations based on an analysis of retail ‘exemplar towns’ and linking directly to a single proposed national evaluation framework.

"Our early findings on the project show that traditional approaches to the evaluation of the performance of high streets have been carried out without a clear national framework and have focused primarily on economic success."