Retail Study 2006
What's the background to the study?
Perth's retail performance must be set in the context of a market where large cities and regional shopping malls increasingly dominate the market. Their growth is fuelled by personal mobility and rising discretionary expenditure. Towns and small cities require continuous innovation and investment to keep pace. Perth's accessibility in East Central Scotland provides strong catchment potential, but also lends proximity to larger, competing shopping destinations such as Dundee and Edinburgh.
Consequently we commissioned Ryden and Roderick MacLean Associates to update and review earlier retail studies commissioned by us. It had the objective of providing advice on how to maintain and enhance the vitality and viability of the existing town centres and to ensure that our policies remain relevant and robust.
What was it's main purpose?
The main purpose of the study was to assess the current performance and future retail prospects of each of the Perth and Kinross towns with particular emphasis on Perth by:-
- providing information on consumers' views on and the use of existing shopping areas
- identifing likely trends in food and non-food shopping and implications for the Perth & Kinross towns' centres
- identifing shortfalls in and opportunities for retail provision including different types of shops
What information did the study provide?
The study provides information on the following:-
- the amount of retail floorspace in Perth, Auchterarder, Aberfeldy, Blairgowrie, Crieff, Kinross, and Pitlochry
- the amount of new retail floorspace that the available expenditure could support
- shopping patterns including areas from which each town draws its trade
- how people shop, where people shop, how they get to the shops and whether they do anything else on a shopping trip
- what shoppers think of 'competing' centres to Perth (i.e. Dundee, Stirling, Dunfermline)
- gaps in provision for which there is retailer demand
Can I get a copy of the study?
You can view the presentation made by Ryden and Roderick MacLean Associates to a seminar at the McDiarmid Park Conference Centre on 2 November 2006. The executive summary and the full report are also available.
You can also buy a copy of the full report and associated appendices for £250.
Should wish to buy a copy please send a cheque to the Executive Director (Environment) at Pullar House, 25 Kinnoull Street, PERTH, PH1 5GD.
