Can "coffee culture" save our high streets?

When Andrew Robinson’s teenage daughter asked for a particular brand of make up for her birthday, he decided against buying online and chose instead to visit a department store where he could get expert advice about exactly what to buy.

Personal service at the point of purchase is one of the reasons Andrew, one of our commercial property specialists, believes the high street has a future.

Retailers selling high value products, such as top end jewellers, can afford to spend face to face time with customers. Buying something where you have the undivided attention of another person is clearly different to buying online.

Andrew Granger & Co's commercial property team believes retailers aiming to compete with the web should look to create a “coffee culture” where customers feel at home and looked after. Quality time with your customers, perhaps literally by having a cup of coffee with them, enhances the shopping experience.

It’s the difference between just getting what you’re paying for and that little bit extra. 

Natural winners in the new era of the high street are retailers that sell what you can’t buy on the Internet – nail salons, hairdressers, restaurants and the like. Also doing well are the bargain basement stores and charity shops with the latter scaling up their operations and joining the market for bigger retail units. The losers are the squeezed middle that are neither providing an upmarket service nor competing with the Internet on price.

Success in retail is still hugely dependent on location but it is not impossible for the strong-minded to succeed where the footfall isn’t already there.

A huge challenge facing start up and expanding retailers is getting bank finance. Ironic then that one class of business reinstating its presence on the high street with gleaming shop windows and eager customer advisers is retail banking.