Once again the team at SaveTheHighStreet.org will be in attendance at the 2025 Completely Retail Marketplace events, and we’d love to meet you there!

Co Founder Alex Schlagman is a regular host of Soapbox, the unique ‘pitching’ platform for new and growing brands.  The wider team has contributed to the educational content in various ways over the past few years.

If you attended last September’s Completely Retail Marketplace, you may know that we hosted a series of roundtable discussions in partnership with Association of Town and City Management (ATCM).  

The key take away messages continue to underpin and drive our work to ensure successful high streets, now and into the future.

Session 1 – Incubators

The usefulness of Incubators for filling vacant space is still a hot topic, with a key message to “take a punt” coming through strongly! There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach, so be creative and work with what you’ve got. With High Street Rental Auctions (HSRAs) now enforceable, it is a good time to consider how your vacant space can be put to good use.

Session 2 – Local Collaboration

Collaborating locally is also still a big success factor, and a key take away message from the round table sessions was that “every place has local champions who are willing to step up”. Funding and contributions can be sought out, so get the conversations started at a local level.

Session 3 – Direction of Regeneration

In our third and final session it was concluded that ongoing commitment to Town Centre Regeneration “must continue”, with session participants discussing both the challenges and opportunities of national, regional and local policies. Shopping centres were highlighted as having a good advantage in terms of their control and ability to make an impact.

In 2022 we launched The Vacancy Partnership, and 18 months ago we showcased on stage a range of new cross-sector partnership opportunities.  Since then we have delivered many grass-roots projects that are now powered by Thriver and funded by landlords, local authorities, BIDs and others.

Contact partners@savethehighstreet.org to book a catch up at this year’s April or September events, or at another time to suit you.