Following her seminar at Autumn Fair last September, ‘Queen Of Shops’ Mary Portas will be back on stage next month at Spring Fair, in conversation with The Times’ retail editor Ashley Armstrong.
The seminar will be taking place at 2pm on February 4 on the Inspiring Retail Stage in Hall 6, with Mary outlining her vision for the future of the high street, and suggesting how struggling retailers can rebuild their relationships with customers and save their stores.
“Big retailers will give you many reasons why the high street is failing – the internet, economic climate, Brexit – but the biggest reason is that as people and consumers, we’ve changed our value system,” states Mary, ahead of her appearance.
“We’ve realised that the old system of ‘more equals better’, is not going to be better for us as people or for our planet. The fact is, old-school consumer culture, reducing people to what they buy, rather than who they are, is dying. And businesses that were set up to feed that beast are crumbling. A new era, The Kindness Economy, is going to be about sentience. It’s going to be about care, respect and understanding the implications of what we are doing.”
Julie Driscoll, regional director for Spring & Autumn Fair, commented: “People are the root to success in our sector so reassessing how we nurture and attract talent is a challenge we must face up to. These are the difficult conversations that Mary has never shied away from.”
* Spring Fair will be taking place from February 2-6 at the NEC, Birmingham. Visit www.springfair.com
Top: Mary Portas in conversation with Ashley Armstrong at Autumn Fair.
