Time for a Rethink?

The past weeks have been deeply worrying for museums, galleries, other cultural sites and attractions and we empathise with concerns over the many uncertainties which the Covid 19 lock down has raised. It's been immensely disappointing for many cultural shops, for example one of our clients, the Priest's House Museum and Garden, Wimborne, was within days of opening its brand new shop when the lock down was enforced and a huge amount of work had been done in preparation.

As we start to see a gradual easing of restrictions it's still hard to feel optimistic due to the many likely and necessary constraints which go against much of what we've traditionally done to maximise footfall and sales and to make retailing at our sites a success. But, just maybe, this gives us all a rare opportunity to rethink the way we run our retail businesses and plan and forecast various scenarios.

We wish all those in the cultural and attractions sectors every success in the coming weeks and months in regenerating their sites and attractions and the retail businesses within them.

Peter Holloway, Retail Thinking