The Mary Question

It’s well-known that Retail Week and many of our readers don’t care much for the approach of Mary Portas. While her first television series, Mary Queen of Shops, was a constructive effort at helping independent retailers deal with the challenges they face today, since then she has made it her business to attack multiple retailers (except those like Matalan and Clarks who her PR agency Yellow Door represents) and the store staff who work for them.

She disputes that she is anti-multiple retailer. (For the record, she also disputes that she avoids criticising Yellow Door’s clients in her programmes or columns). I would point to her latest television series as evidence of this. I would also point to her twitter feed, where, for example, she took the opportunity of the Stokes Croft riot to criticise Tesco for its approach to opening in new areas, not the rioters who attacked the store while staff were shut inside.

This - along with the fact that one of her biggest clients is, erm, Westfield - makes her an odd choice to advise the government on the high street. Looking at twitter, quite a lot of people seem to welcome her appointment, because they see their local high streets need help. Which they do, and it’s good that the government is tackling the issue.

But Portas’s approach of playing multiple and independent retailers off against each other is not going to solve the problems of the high street. And the people pinning their hopes on Portas’s review are kidding themselves if they think it can prompt some big revival of independents.

Good indies will always do well, as will good multiples. The biggest threat to both on the high street is the internet. What Portas should have a look at is how parking, business rates and commercial property terms handicap the high street against both out of town retail and the web. I’m sure that’s what she will find, but will that persuade the government to take action?