Desert Island Stores: Helen Dickinson, CEO of the British Retail Consortium
As leader of the British Retail Consortium, Helen is in a difficult position when asked to pick her favourite stores. She suggests “it would be a dangerous path in my job!” That aside, here are her thoughts on her Desert Island Stores and her journey in retail.
The store you remember from childhood?
Subscribe to TRBI used to live in New Zealand as a child. I can remember the first big American food chain in NZ coming to our town as that was big news back then. But what I remember most was the local supermarket called New World. Wandering around there with Mum and my younger brothers was indeed like entering a new world and it left a strong early impression of retail as a place of discovery and excitement.
Most inspirational store to your career?
My first job was a Saturday job in a local chemist/pharmacy but when I went to Polytechnic in order to supplement my grant (yes, higher education was paid for in those days!) I worked two nights a week in an electricals store called Tempo. It went bust a few years later (not down to me I might add) but it did inspire my interest in retail. I then continued into my career at KPMG where I asked to work on retail clients. And after 20 years of doing that, I joined the BRC…. and the rest….as they say….is history.
Most frequently used store?
Everyone must eat, right? And food retail is nearly half of all retail sales. So, my most frequently visited store is a selection of local supermarkets and convenience stores. I am lucky enough to live in central London so have pretty much all the names within a 15-minute walk. My mood or the day of the week or my route home will determine which I might visit. Retail at its best is about being there for people, week in, week out, making everyday life work a bit better.
The store you wished you’d created?
The store I wish I’d created is a modern high-street ‘Repair & Resale’ department store. A place that makes circular shopping mainstream: beautifully curated, pre-loved product, take-back counters, on-site alterations and repair, and space for learning so customers could re-use, repair and recycle as easily as they buy new. It would be the sort of store that gives people a reason to visit the high street: practical, optimistic, and built around service and community.
Your overall favourite store?
The CEO of the BRC can’t have favourites. I know it sounds easy, and very hard it is to do, but surely anyone’s favourite has to be a local retailer that has genuinely nailed the blend of digital convenience and physical experience where the store inspires, educates and connects, rather than just transacts.
The store you’d like to take to the desert island?
It would be a wonderful hybrid that would keep me going practically but that is also linked to my interest in interior design. It would have great food to keep me alive (important on an island, I’d say) and then also be a treasure trove of vintage, mid-century furniture and home-ware finds that I could spend my days wandering through to create a very wacky Scandi mid-century-inspired desert island abode.
