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The aim of this research is to define the development and boundaries of the retailer brand primarily through the elements of identity and image. Two perspectives are introduced to explain the ways in which three‐dimensional branding and sensory experiences of the retail brand can arise. One approach is marketing led; the other is based on design studies. The study assesses the development of retail branding, the areas in which sensory experience of the retail brand occurs and its implications for retailers. It concludes with new insights into retail branding and proposals for the subject to be studied across disciplinary boundaries.

The aim of this research is to assess the role of mentoring as an approach to training and development for small‐ to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) retailers. Mentoring requires the teaming of a knowledgeable person with a learner, to enable a transfer of information, skills and expertise. Importantly it allows greater flexibility in the timing and location of learning. The research is being undertaken in the London Borough of Merton through an 18‐month project. This study forms an interim assessment and analysis of 40 retailers’ responses to the mentoring process, the types of learning needs encountered, the implementation of mentoring and their experiences and learning outcomes. It concludes by assessing the effectiveness of the initial outcomes of the project against its objectives and evaluating emerging themes in SME retail management.

This paper will argue that current attempts at making systems user‐friendly for businessmen and the public at large are doomed to failure because they do not deal with the key issues of document organization, selection, classification, summarization, and interpretation.

This paper sets out to explore the concept of creativity in the context of the retail store environment and the function of design in shaping this environment.

The paper uses a cross‐disciplinary approach to review theoretical approaches to creativity, and their relevance to the retail industry. It subsequently assesses types of retail spaces, and then moves on to compare the concept of retail design with product design and its implications for creativity and retailers.

It demonstrates the complexity of creativity as a concept, and the opportunities to create retail spaces through design‐led approaches. It defines retail design and its engagement with stakeholders within and outside the organisation and its impact on organisational creativity.

As a review paper it covers a number of perspectives on creativity, design and store environments. However, these are not exhaustive, and invite further discussion and scoping for future research.

The paper outlines ways to understand creativity in retailing, and provides guidance on how retailers can organize their organizations to engage with design projects.

The paper uniquely examines concepts of creativity and proposes how they might be applied to retailing. It demonstrates how creativity pervades the industry, in terms of design and the use of designed spaces. It proposes new areas for research relating to the definition of creativity in the retail industry, and the role of creativity and retailing in cultural and social contexts.

This paper reports on an ethnographic study to explore the experience of dignity in the acute care of older people in four acute NHS trusts. It explores the prevalent view that acute care is not the right place for older people and the failure to acknowledge that the largest group of users are the very old, the frail and the dependent, which results in environments that are not friendly to older people generally, and are especially hostile to those with cognitive impairments. Added to this, a culture that is risk averse and defensive, where care is undervalued and where professional accountability and discretion are replaced by standardised checklists, pathways and audits, cultivates the attitude that if an aspect of care can't be measured it doesn't matter. Overall, getting the job done appears to matter more than how the job is done, so that the focus is primarily on the task rather than seeing the person. It describes how the failure of acute trusts to respond to the needs of the majority of their users ‐ older people ‐ results in the failure to provide dignified care and the impact of this on both the quality of care and patient outcomes.

To demonstrate how a company's retail store design relates to its brand and is influenced by, and contributes to, its corporate values.

The case study briefly summarises the significance of corporate values, branding and design in the retail industry, and subsequently explores The Body Shop's application of these elements to its business. The case study is contextualised by The Body Shop's retail environment forming a particularly important communication channel for the company.

The Body Shop has in many ways been the victim of its own success. Being a unique proposition, and having effectively created its own retail category, it has appeared slow to evolve its brand identity. The strong association between the company and its campaigning founder, increasing competition and changing consumer attitudes, have been significant factors in the company's struggle to re‐align and update its brand.

The case study largely draws on secondary sources. However, it is informed by one of the authors' experience and knowledge of The Body Shop's design process, which has previously remained unpublished.

The problems of planning and managing store design as a communications channel are highlighted. In particular, it demonstrates the difficulties in aligning a retailer's visual identity with its brand and market.

The case study examines the under‐researched relationship between retail branding and design, and contributes to knowledge of the problems created over time by strongly held ethical values, for both branding and design.

To define erotic retailing in the context of shops selling sexually arousing products to women, and the ethical implications of High Street “porno‐chic”. Its purpose is to assess the moral implications of access to sexual imagery and products in the High Street and examines the boundaries of its acceptability in society.

The approach is inter‐disciplinary, with two objectives; firstly to demonstrate the value of archived source materials to explore and structure the research problem in depth and secondly to turn directly to a primary philosophical source, to provide a new ethical approach to the research problem.

The findings demonstrate a typology of erotic retailing, the interrelatedness of the commercial opportunity with social and cultural developments in the late twentieth century and propose a philosophical answer to the ethics of erotic retailing.

It is concerned with the development of new theoretical frameworks through the use of complementary research methods.

Its practical implications concern the future opportunities for a rapidly expanding field of commercial activity and a solution to the ethical problem of “selling sex”.

It engages with an emerging area of retailing, exploring and defining an emerging problem concerning the marketing and selling of erotic products and the ethical evaluation of the problem using a philosophical analysis.