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Sorry, I’m a bit behind on the blogging posts, about two lessons, thanks for a great lesson this afternoon.   I’ll catch up over the bank holiday weekend.

Still waiting to give some coursework marks back, but I’m waiting on the final pieces of homework to be handed in on changing shopping habits.   I know that many of you are pleased with your coursework marks, if not, we need to reflect on your weak areas and think about how we can improve these for the next piece of coursework, which starts on Monday!

You might also want to have a look at Mr P’s blog, his students are finishing their final piece of coursework and also preparing for the exam, that they are doing this year!

So cloning…

According to the New Economics Foundation, Britain’s High Streets are at risk of becoming clone towns at the expense of traditional independent stores. They argue that the High Streets are increasingly becoming identikit, they lack character as they become more similar, often referred to as homogenisation.

A clone town can be defined as a High Street that is dominated by multiples.

But why is this such a problem?

• Multiples will take business away from independent stores, therefore resulting in their closure. (See what can large supermarkets offer us? )
• This may result in a loss of employment, though balanced with the employment supplied by multiples.
• Critics argue this results in a loss of choice for the consumer.
• A lack of competition might also be bad for the consumer, it may result in higher prices.
• Money that the multiples earn often doesn’t remain local, as they are national companies, the profits ‘leak’ elsewhere.
• Aesthetically, critics suggest that the environment becomes dull and repetitive, as the same old familiar shop frontages can be seen, the environment loses it’s character.

The New Economics Foundation also suggests two other classifications for High Streets.

Border Towns, those that have a mixture of traditional independent and multiples stores.

Home Towns, those that have retained their traditional character, without the significant encroachment of multiples.

Bangor is supposedly an example of a Home Town, a theory that we will be testing in July!

Next time, what has Tesco done for Ilkeston?

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