Comment: Do retailers care about locations outside London?

Is Argos good? Does Holland & Barrett rock? Will EE float your mobile boat?

The answer, it would appear, is that it rather depends on where you are.

Head for the golden acres of central London and all of the above may prove to be the case.

Unsurprisingly, given the nature of the rents in the area, these retailers and almost all others put the their best feet forward – there’s little point in spending a lot of money for the right to operate a shop and then not doing enough with it.

Travel roughly 300 miles south-west of central London however and it’s a somewhat different story.

The voyager arrives in Penzance, last stop on the line from Paddington and a small town where retailers certainly have branches but, well how can this be put politely, don’t appear too bothered how they look.

Take the Holland & Barrett outpost. Externally it has little of its original green paint left – and that which is in place is flaking off by the day.

The climate in this part of the world means rain, rain and more rain, but most paint is resistant to water. It would therefore be possible to have a shop where the paint job is intact.

Now wander down the high street and walk into the semi-covered arcade that extends south from it. This is the home of Argos and there are shoppers in it.

Think Old Street and the glitzy screens and white tablets that have made it popular following its makeover.

Not much of this is in evidence in this branch. Instead, shoppers are looking at catalogues and frequenting a store that would have looked a little tired five or more years ago.

And then there is EE. Nothing too much wrong with this one except that it is very obviously fitted out on a budget and the fancy furniture that characterises its interiors elsewhere is signally absent here.  

A cynic might say who cares about Penzance? Its population has higher than average levels of unemployment and it’s a long way from anywhere.

Maybe so, but is the appearance of these shops and others like them not symptomatic of a piece of retail realpolitik?

For a brand or a retailer to be loved, it has to deliver a consistent experience and the nature of the experience in Penzance when set against London is not the same.

It’s not a question of money, it’s more about care and it looks as if towns like Penzance are about retailer coverage rather than care. Roll outs need to take place more quickly and more consistently.