We want to support retailers to better understand the evidence around healthy ageing. We want to inspire action in retailers in relation their role supporting healthy ageing. We want to transform how the retail sector sees and serves older customers.

1. Healthy ageing and retail
How can retailers keep us healthy across our
lives?

2. Welcome
David Sinclair, ILC Chief Executive and Lesley Palmer, Acting
Director, Dementia Services Development Centre, University of
Stirling
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3. Professor Leigh Sparks
Professor of Retail Studies, University of Stirling
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4. Retailing, Towns
and Healthy Ageing
Leigh Sparks
Professor of Retail Studies,
Deputy Principal
University of Stirling

5. Themes
 The changing environment
 Retailing
 High streets and towns
 The ageing population
 The retail and place policy
background
 Two Questions
 What roles should retailing be
playing?
 What does our population need
from retailing and town centres?

6. “The current situation is an
existential threat to physical space
in retailing” (Andrew Murphy,
Executive Director Operations, JLP)
 Closed 16 out of 51 JLP stores
between onset of pandemic and
today
 Over that closure programme
sales have risen by 2%
(2019/2021)
 60% of all JL sales are now made
online

7. Changing nature
of retailing
• Increasing scale,
decentralisation, disaggregation
and car dependency
• The rise of the internet and
home shopping
• The rise of convenience and the
alteration of location

8. https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/retailindustry/timeseries/j4mc/drsi

10. Lessons from Covid
 Local, convenient
 Sustainable, community
 Online and local delivery
 Difference, independent, variation
 Identity of people and place

11. The Current Situation
 The cost of living crisis
 Energy and food inflation
 Interest rates
 Disposable income decline
 Food banks and warm banks
 Climate emergency and net zero
 Operational costs for retailers including staff
and supply issues
 Volatility of patterns – post pandemic settling
 Growing dissonance between what retailers
can offer and what consumers want

12. The Changing Nature of Town
Centres and High Streets
The high street and the town centre
are not the same
Decentralisation and disaggregation
of all activities = the loss of place
Comparative costs of operation
Climate change realities
“The Death of the High Street” :
self-fulfilling prophecy?

13. Shopping Diary 1977-1998
Female. Born 1915
Every purchase and trip
Variety, local, city
21 Years of Going Shopping

14. The Scottish Policy Context
 A New Future for Scotland’s Town
Centres
 Town Centre Action Plan 2
 20 minute neighbourhoods
 Community Wealth Building and Local
Resilience

15. The Vision
“Towns and town centres
are for the wellbeing of
people, planet and the
economy. Towns are for
everyone and everyone has
a role to play in making our
towns and town centres
successful”
Recommendations
• Strengthen the existing
national policy context
• Stop supporting activities
which cause harm to our
town centres
• Extend existing activities
and approaches to
accelerate town centre
renewal

16. Two Questions
1. What roles should retailing be
playing?
2. What does our population need
from retailing and town centres?

17.  Retailers are Social Engineers
 Harms (Tobacco, Alcohol, FHSS)
 Location and place
 Social glue for communities
 Retailers have Power and Agency

18.  Different or Individualised
Populations
 The Role of Data and Information
 Data for Private Good and Positive
Behaviour Change
 More broadly – how do retailers
support people in their choices and
lives?
From Adapting our Lifestyles to
the Retail Offer to the Retail Offer
fitting our Lifestyles

19.  The ageing population is a threat
and an opportunity to the retail
sector
 Where should retailers locate?
 What is the role of internet retailing
and shopping?
 How can shops be redesigned to be
more age- and health- friendly?
 Slow shopping, dementia-friendly
checkouts?
Retailers and Healthy Ageing

20. Town Centres and High
Streets
 Attractive
 Streetscape and facilities
 Mix of uses and attractors
 Accessible
 Public transport
 Foot
 Active
 Navigable
 Interesting

21.  The multi-functional town
centre
 Age friendly planning and
design
 Inter-generational co-
production
 Flexibility of approach

22. A final thought
It is often too easy to focus on the
ageing nature of the population and
on the impacts of poor health, but
these have also to be set in the wider
contexts of change in retailing, towns
and policy. Limited consideration of
what retailers need, and how our
systems have structured this (and the
consumer demand patterns) could
condemn well-meaning approaches to
failure. We need to make sure all the
elements are aligned, and that policy
is driving us in the right direction.

23. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
Leigh Sparks, Professor of Retail Studies, University of Stirling
Email: leigh.sparks@stir.ac.uk
Web/blog: www.stirlingretail.com
Twitter: sparks_stirling

24. Ailsa Forbes
Retail Fellow, International Longevity Centre (ILC-UK)
Join the conversation: @ilcuk
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25. Healthy customers, staff and
employers for thriving retail
Ailsa Forbes, Retail Impact Fellow, ILC
Ilcuk.org.uk
What happens next
Join the conversation: @ilcuk
#HealthyRetail

26. Who we are
The International Longevity Centre (ILC) is the UK's specialist think
tank on the impact of longevity on society.
We work alongside the International Longevity Centre Global
Alliance with 16 partners across the world.
We want a society where everyone can thrive, regardless of age.

27. When shopping was…
image goes here
Image of the post-war Vineyards
parade, Great Baddow near
Chelmsford in Essex circa 1965
Previously a Georgian house on
this site, converted to a hotel
before flats and shops were
constructed in the early 1960s
Part of the construct of the
traditional ‘circular’ village
model. In 1851 there were 24
farmers, 8 beer retailers, 4
shoemakers, 3 blacksmiths, 2
dressmakers and a vicar listed
in the Post Office Directory

28. Positives and challenges
Positives
• 15 minute walking neighbourhood access for whole village
• Separate specialist shops for different trades
• Park-and-ride and bus service to county town, buses every 15-20 mins
weekdays
• Active parish council involved in community
Challenges
• Unevolved naturally occurring retirement communities (NORC), not conceived
for ageing in place concept
• Community infrastructure aimed at older demographic
• Younger generation leaves and doesn’t return

29. Our retail world is evolving around us
• Automation and retail technology are here to stay
• Finance and retail commerce is changing
• Shopping habits are changing
• Society and the family unit is changing

30. Our big picture principles:
18 month retail project
• We want to support retailers to better understand the evidence
around healthy ageing.
• We want to inspire action in retailers in relation their role
supporting healthy ageing.
• We want to transform how the retail sector sees and serves older
customers.
By implementing changes in dialogue, action and policy, others
across the lifecourse will be favourably affected.

31. Examples of what we’re doing:
• Influencing and lobbying local councils, local and national government to consider
environmental infrastructure
• Targeting retailers through decision-making departments, HR teams and CEO’s
• Publishing a series of retail-friendly white papers, coinciding with retail calendar for
best effect
• Working with retail associations to inspire and guide members
• Social media campaigns direct to public, increasing awareness of priorities
• Through newly published report ‘The Health of Older People in Places’ ILC asked
Government to earmark part of Levelling Up fund for projects creating jobs suitable
for older workers, especially in ‘unhealthy’ areas

32. Example of specific issue - the high street
needs to be welcoming and accessible
• In a 2021 Government UK Disability Survey, 77.9% of disabled
people said shops and shopping centres were either inaccessible
or had extreme difficulty in accessing, followed by 65.5% with
pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes.
• More than 27% of bus services in England have disappeared in a
decade.

33. It could start with:
image goes here
• Better segregated cycle paths
• Retailers to sponsor more Dial-
a-Ride schemes in rural
communities
• Incentives/swap outs for
hybrid cars
• Crunch data for economic
growth and cutting carbon
emissions in town centres
• Can Business Improvement
Districts (BIDs) be more
engaged?
• Opening dialogue with retailing
associations about shop front
retail access

34. Example of specific issue: retailers need older
customers and a healthy, inclusive workforce
• By 2030 there will be over 20 million people over 50 in the UK.
• The combined spending power of Greater Manchester’s
households aged 65+ is increasing by £280 million each year.
• Almost half (49%) of employees are either over or underskilled for
their current jobs.
• It costs approximately £4,000 to replace each member of staff –
retailers need to keep their staff healthy in order to retain them.

35. It could start with:
image goes here
A seat in a shop
Re-plan retail space so
wheelchairs and buggies
can fit
Rent out a space to a new
social enterprise
Overhaul HR handbooks re.
inclusivity
Invest in inexpensive online
courses for staff
Scrutinise night-shift
contracts
Build knowledge, skills and
competence, address
discrimination, support
diversity, adapt the
workplace

36. Thank you
We believe society has to adapt now so we can all enjoy the
benefits of longevity. We can instill inspiration, offer support to
retailers and create lasting impact within this exciting new project.

37. Frankie McKittrick
PhD Researcher, University of Stirling
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38. Exploring the shopping
experiences of older people
and the role of local shops
Frankie McKittrick
University of Stirling

39. Introduction
• Lacuna in our knowledge about
everyday shopping activities in
later life.
• Shopping activity provides an
outlet for health-promoting
activities (social, cognitive and
physical) that directly impact
wellbeing in later life.
• Local shops selected as they
play a central role in supporting
their communities and provide
an important space for social
interaction.
SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) 2020

40. Research
Questions
1. How do older people negotiate
the neighbourhood
environment on their journey
to and from local shops?
2. What are the barriers and
enablers that older people
experience when accessing
local shops?
3. What role do local shops play in
supporting the emotional and
social needs of older people?
4. How can local retailers support
their older consumers?

41. Methods
Inclusion criteria – aged 75+ & live in
Dundee.
Methods (older people) – diary
keeping (written and photographic),
semi-structured interviews, &
accompanied shopping trips.
Methods (retailers) – semi-structured
interviews.
12 older participants – 5 men & 7
women aged between 76-90.
Interviews conducted with 9
participants from various retail
backgrounds.

42. Data Analysis
Braun & Clarke’s (2006) TA approach to qualitative data analysis

43. Social interactions with local
shop staff
• Social interactions & developing long-lasting connection with
shop staff one of the most important aspects of visiting local
shops.
• Shopping can provide people with an outlet for social
participation and may alleviate loneliness and social isolation
(Hare et al., 2001).
“On days where the staff are maybe the only people you’ve seen
all day it feels great to be able to stop and have a chat.”
“That’s the main reason I enjoy going shopping in the hope that
I’m going to meet up with somebody I know who I can chat away
to and put the world to rights.”
“We talk about many things… about whether we believe in God –
he does, I don’t.”

44. The changing high street
• Gradual decline in the variety of shops along the
Perth Road and Lochee High Street areas.
• Problems associated with drug use has led to the
displacement of older people from important
social spaces.
• Older people’s historical knowledge of their
neighbourhoods as a valuable asset in
reimagining the high street.
• Economically deprived areas have fewer options
to buy locally sourced fruit and vegetables.

46. Summary
• Overall, participants felt that
Dundee was a positive place to
grow older in.
• Some issues could be improved
to better support older people
to negotiate their
neighbourhoods including street
lighting, pavements, seating
areas, public toilets, pedestrian
crossings, litter.
• Older people have a vital part to
play in creating sustainable and
liveable societies.

47. References
• Age UK (2019) Later Life in the United Kingdom. Accessed: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-
uk/documents/reports-and-publications/later_life_uk_factsheet.pdf.
• Association of Convenience Stores (2022) Local Shop Report 2020. Accessed:
acs_lsr2022_summary_print_report_16pp_d6_v2_aw_b_lr_spreads.pdf
• Buffel, T., Handler, S. & Phillipson, C. (eds.) (2019) Age Friendly Cities and Communities A Global
Perspective, Bristol: Policy Press.
• Phillips, J., Walford, N., Hockey, A. & Sparks, L. (2021) Older People, Town Centres and the Revival of the
‘High Street’, Planning Theory & Practice, 22:1, 11-26, DOI: 10.1080/14649357.2021.1875030.
Thank you for listening.

48. George MacGinnis
Healthy Ageing Challenge Director, UK Research and Innovation
Join the conversation: @ilcuk
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49. Q&A
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50. Lunch break
Please join us again at 1.30pm