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If the retailer was previously looking to credit to stretch the pockets of the consumer in these hard times, then he chose the wrong government under which to practice these tactics. Enforcement of the stern tenet of getting people to ‘live within their means’ is going to bite hard into the free‐spending habits of all credit card holders. In the mean time, what hopes does the retailer have for in‐house credit and what are the real possibilities it offers in the coming decades?

The following article arises from the conference given by the Henley Centre for Forecasting in late October last year, entitled “Retailing leisure in the 1980s”. Some of the data on which the speakers' forecasts is based is available in their quarterly publication “The UK Leisure Markets”, referred to in the text. The information Henley made available was comprehensive and wide‐ranging — it is their policy to take a look, not just at the individual markets concerned, but to evaluate the effects of world trade, government policy etc, on the sector under scrutiny.

Fitch & Company, the design consultants, have been involved with several projects for Owen Owen for some years now. But the planning and construction of a department store in Redditch marks the beginning of new developments. RDM talked to Fitch & Company and to John Hoeslie of Owen Owen about Redditch, and we give the last word to Alan MacKinnon, marketing director of the design group, who had some observations to make about the future of the department store in general.

The wind of change is blowing through the stores of this country, not least in terms of how we may be paying for our purchases in the coming decades. Electronic funds transfer was the subject of a seminar held recently by Retail Conferences (“Retail Cash Handling in the Eighties”), and one of the speakers there gave a run‐down of the evolution of commodity, coin and paper. How long before we swap paper for the plastic card? His criteria for the acceptance of these payment systems was that they were, at one time or another, convenient, secure and universally acceptable. Does the plastic card meet these requirements? Particularly on the last score, where it would have to be acceptable to the banks, the retailers and the consumer? And who pays for the experiments necessary before full implementation of EFTS? And what about the numbers among our population who do not at the moment have bank accounts? Can they be drawn into the system?

Wood Green “Shopping City” is hardly the most attractive development Europe has ever seen — the heavy, red‐brick, municipal feel of the place doesn't merit the warm and exciting catch‐phrases which the publicists have dreamed up for it. However, as an integrated urban development it figured prominently in the International Council of Shopping Centres' 5th Annual European Conference, where it was used as a case study for a panel session. As far as general information goes, there are still 14 units on the market, and standard shops are letting for between £20,000‐£30,000 in Phase II. The centre is mainly for comparison shopping, although there is a bid to increase food representation in certain areas, and there are restaurant facilities within the development itself. Wood Green was designed to be a major focus for shopping in North London and to cater for a projected catchment area of some 3–4 million people. The last attendance figures available for the “Shopping City” (which were taken in late April when a number of shops now open were not trading) show Saturday to be the peak day, when a total of 50,000 people used the centre. Phase I was started in 1973, and sits on the east side of Wood Green high road. Phase II, on the west side, began construction in 1976, and the major stores of D H Evans and C&A are trading now. Phases I and II are linked by a bridge across the high street at first floor level. Called the Gallery, units on this bridge will be leased to specialist up‐market shops, and this area is singled out for high pedestrian flow. What distinguishes Wood Green is the major housing development on the upper levels of Shopping City. This is due for completion in 1981 and will provide 201 flats for over 500 people. The dwellings are for one, two or five persons, and overlook a central landscaped court, inside which is a children's creche. In February 1979 a Market Hall was opened which gives 54,000 sq ft to 72 traders, many of whom have installed themselves there now that their old sites have been replaced by Shopping City. Another feature which has been made much of by the developers is Citysquare, “a place where shoppers and advertisers will meet.” A metal frame has been suspended from the ceiling of Citysquare and it is planned to take in “advertising, news and entertainment facilities with dramatic sound and vision.” Below this structure, it is hoped that national and local advertisers will put on show their products and services. It must also be noted that there is provision for 1,500 car parking spaces, and 25,000 sq ft of offices. It is also felt that because the car park is located directly over the shopping centre, it encourages pedestrian flow through the first floor level of the development. The other way in which customer circulation is encouraged is via the Gallery across the high road and because there are main traders at each end, on both floors. The development is a joint enterprise between the Haringey Council and Electricity Supply Nominees Ltd, builders are John Laing Ltd, architects are Sheppard Robson, and Development Consultants, Letting and managing agents are Richard Ellis, London. The following report outlines major areas of interest discussed at the conference. The panel speakers were: Richard Young of Sheppard Robson, London, who were the architects for Wood Green; Nigel Woolner of Chapman Taylor Associates, who have Eldon Square in their portfolio and who are involved in the West One development in Oxford Street; Rex Mercer of Drivers Jonas, which acted on behalf of the London Borough of Haringey for the Wood Green development; and Derek Nunn of Bungey, Nunn & Stock, marketing advisers, who also contributed to Wood Green. Roger Lucas of Richard Ellis chaired the panel.

Central Milton Keynes may be a fitting title for the shopping development which lies in the midst of this new town; unlike many shopping centre projects which claim to be central to a community or to improve facilities and the environment, but which in fact do nothing of the sort, Central Milton Keynes provides interest, shops (including two of the largest department stores outside Birmingham and London), a pleasant environment and some eating facilities and a pub, too. RDM spoke to David Harbord, Dip Arch (Nott'm) RIBA, from the Development Corporation.

There's nothing very new about concessions: Selfridges have been hosting them for the past two decades. What is unusual is the recent growth in concessions, and more particularly, the use to which they have been put in certain stores, notably Bournes. RDM takes a look at the developing role of the shop within a shop.

Women have always worked: whether unrecognised, at home, or more recently, as part of the paid work‐force. Their contribution to the economy has always been significant, if unsung. But how far can women go within our present work‐structure; how do they fit into the existing career patterns; do they really have equal opportunity? Retailing has been one of the areas of employment where women have traditionally predominated — in numbers, at least. So what has the female work‐force done for retailing, and what are the retailers doing for the women themselves? At a time when many people are talking of a crisis of management, and looking at the pool of female labour as a largely untapped source of new talent, what part are women playing in retailing today, and what are the limitations placed on them, and why?

Also from the ICSC 5th Annual Conference came this discussion of the changes that are going to happen to the shopping centre in the near future. It seems that the consumer and his/her growing needs are becoming an irrestible force for the developer. The following report outlines some of the ways in which the shopping mall may respond to these pressures.

With the promise of more and more retailers trading up and the increasing proliferation of speciality shops, it seems that the designer may be just coming into his own. Interior Design International, held at Olympia in March, claimed record numbers of visitors to its exhibition — a claim which was endorsed by a number of exhibitors to whom RDM spoke. And the conference held alongside it, “Tomorrow's Interiors”, had its shops and stores' seminar well attended; among the delegates from design houses and product groups were names like Marks & Spencer, Macdonalds, John Lewis, Littlewoods, Maple and Cadbury‐Schweppes. Other exhibitions in the offing include Shopex, to be held at Olympia from 18–22 May. The publicists have forecast a bumper exhibition, and claim to have some 220 exhibitors lined up. That's 55 up from last year's showing, when RDM counted something in the region of 165 companies. Of last year's number, around 75 have dropped out this year — or if your prefer it the other way, 90 exhibitors have chosen to stay on. The fact that Shopex has been brought down to London's Olympia has led to speculation that this could be a good thing for visitors from home and abroad. Last year, it was said that Birmingham was simply too decentralised, especially for the foreign visitor, and that most of the good examples of design and shopfitting were in the London shops anyway. The exhibition has a range of participants from the fields of shopfitting, design, display, point of sale, security, lighting, business machines, merchandising and allied products. It is interesting to see how many exhibitors are in the field of computers, cash registers and EPOS: Anker Data Systems, Associated Business Machines, Cash and Security Equipment, Chubb Cash, Compucorp, Decimo, Electronic Cash Registers, Geller Business Equipment, Gunn Electronic Cash Registers, Hugin Cash Registers, MLM Computers, NCR, Norfrond, Norman Pendred Cellgrave, SI Design Studio, Sanyo Marubeni UK, Shilglade Retail Systems, TEC UK, Transaction Data Systems. It will also be interesting to see what the shopfitter and designer has to offer the retailer today, faced as he is with a shrinking market. The consumer's pocket is emptier than ever before, and the major multiples have already absorbed most of the growth possible from squeezing out the independent. That the element of design will also play an increasingly important part in retailing was also evident from the ICSC 5th Annual Conference, also held in London in March. In the seminar entitled “Shopping centre response to the need for a better quality of life”, we heard how the consumer has become more discerning and demanding, and how we have to give her a more enjoyable, attractive and socially useful shopping centre; one that is well‐designed, convenient and inclusive of good services, eating areas and facilities like nurseries and libraries. From the same conference came a very interesting talk by Rodney Fitch of Fitch & Company, the design consultants, on the subject of “Graphics, signs and mall furniture.” This speech is reported below; we also present a version of the paper on design by David Calcott of John Michael Design Consultants, presented at the “Tomorrow's Interiors” conference.