In this post, I take a look at the latest state of retail in Reading.  Trying to find out whether local shopkeepers had a successful Christmas season is not entirely straightforward.  Chains provide updates on their national performance, but don’t provide store-by-store breakdowns.  However, we do have some figures published by the Reading BID (business improvement district) on footfall in the town centre, together with some commentary and quotes from retailers.  They’ve given a headline figure of -5.6% vs Christmas 2017, against a national average of -3.8%.  Some of individual comments were interesting: Continue reading “Reading Retail Update – a very Broad Street” →