Power to Change, the think-do tank that backs community business, has released its latest report Department Stories: How communities are reimagining a national institution, which features Department in Ryde as one of its national case studies.
The report argues that department stores can be ideal venues for community activity due to their large, flexible and centrally-located space.
Creating a vibrant new offer
In turn, communities are creating a vibrant new offer for their high streets and town centres – one that meets local demand for a variety of experiences on the high street, driving footfall to the area. With 31% of Brits saying that there are too many of the same types of businesses on the high street, the variety that community businesses offer is invaluable to high street regeneration.
Local regeneration initiatives
Each of the four case studies (more details below) is working closely with local regeneration initiatives and key partners, proving the value of community business in curating a high street offer that reflects the needs and desires of their community. These communities are offering a solution to the problem of vacant town centre spaces that no longer fit the retail-focused purpose for which they were designed.
Support required for mixed-use, experience-led visions
However, to do this, communities will require a supportive policy landscape that favours a more mixed-use, experience-led vision for the high street.
The report calls on government to adopt policies to make community ownership on the high street more accessible.
Craig: These national institutions need a new role in the fabric of our high streets
Jess Craig, Policy Manager at Power to Change and author of Department Stories said,
“With the news that only 7% of shoppers will be buying most of their gifts at department stores this year, it’s clear that these national institutions need a new role in the fabric of our high streets.
“Community businesses are playing a leading role in reimagining these spaces for innovative new purposes, like sustainability education in Sparks and a dementia day centre in the Haven Community Hub.
“At the same time, they are retaining the vital role of department stores as town centre social spaces that bring people together and connect us to each other and our place.”
George: Department is a place that encourages the whole town to dream big
Speaking to the work of Department in creating a new destination space in Ryde, Sharon George of Shademakers UK said,
“Instead of another empty shop on the high street, we wanted to bring our experience of transforming communities with cultural events and bring colour to the town centre in a permanent creative building with art at its heart.
“Department is a place that encourages the whole town to dream big.
“We wanted to make it a place that the whole town can be proud of.”
The perfect stage to put community, culture, and creativity at the heart of the High Street
Reflecting on the role of communities in high street regeneration, Kathryn Chiswell Jones, who runs Sparks in Bristol, said,
“For years, we’ve all been chatting about how to bring people back to the high street, and yet we’ve often missed the obvious – the people are what make the high street! If we’re serious about high street regeneration, we need to start with community at its core.
“Sparks is a pilot exploring how to move on from the outdated 20th-century model that funnels money out of local areas and create space for ethical choices and reinvestment in our own communities.
“Having the chance to reimagine an iconic former department store has given us the perfect stage to put community, culture, and creativity at the heart of our 21st-century high streets.”
About the case studies
The report features four case studies of community-led re-use of department stores and other town centre shopping spaces. These examples show how communities are breathing new life into these assets, providing activities, opportunities, and services for local people, rooted in their understanding of what their communities want and need.
- Departmentis a project of arts organisation Shademakers, in the former Packs independent department store in Ryde. Embracing over 300 years of creativity and craftsmanship on this site, after a major refurbishment designed with Turner Works, Department will provide a multipurpose hub for locals and visitors to engage with arts and culture on the Isle of Wight.
- Haven Community Hubis a one-stop hub for older people and their families in Westcliff-on-Sea. Creating a positive legacy for the former Havens department store, this project of Age Concern Southend now operates a dementia day care service, a diverse health and wellbeing offer, and a community café that draws in visitors of all ages, helping to drive footfall back to the area’s shopping district.
- Sparks, run by Artspace Lifespace and the Global Goals Centre, is reinvigorating Bristol’s Broadmead shopping district in a former Marks & Spencer, which closed in 2022 after over 70 years in the city centre. Sparks is a unique, interactive department store for everyone, based around experience and not just retail. Using its city centre location and diverse footfall, Sparks is attracting a wide cross-section of the community to engage with education around sustainability with a retail offer of independent businesses to match this ethos.
- Dewsbury Arcadeis a Victorian Grade II listed shopping arcade in the heart of Dewsbury. Once a popular town centre thoroughfare, the Arcade Group hopes the arcade – England’s first community-run shopping centre – will help spark the wider regeneration of the town centre. Currently, the arcade is undergoing major regeneration works to make the space fit to serve further generations of residents. When it reopens in Autumn 2025, it will provide space for local entrepreneurs and activities to bring residents back to the town centre.
Recommendations for government
The report identifies challenges for communities looking to repurpose department store spaces. Community businesses can struggle with the upfront costs of repairing and maintaining these spaces to serve the new vision and meet the accessibility needs of the community. They also face challenges in accessing the finance and lease conditions needed to take on these large assets.
To address this, the report calls on government to create a more civic high street. This includes creating a Civic High Streets Accelerator, channeling local growth and regeneration funding to support community-led high streets initiatives, and reforming business rates to include community businesses as a distinct asset class.
The report also calls on government to support more community ownership. This includes expanding the scope of assets eligible under new powers to tackle high street vacancy to include long-term vacant department stores; expanding and improving upon the Community Ownership Fund to make £1 billion accessible to communities; introducing a British High Street Investment Vehicle; and making communities a first resort to take on high street assets through a comprehensive Community Asset Transfer strategy.
News shared by Nicole on behalf of Power to Change. Ed
