The British high street may have faced huge challenges in recent years, but Mary Portas is more passionate about retail than ever. “This is such an exciting time, because we’re rebuilding,” says the consultant and broadcaster. “There’s so much talent, innovation and creativity in this country – we just have to support it.”
Portas earned the title “queen of shops” after transforming the fortunes of the luxury London department store Harvey Nichols in the 1990s and has since worked with too many big-name brands to count, from Louis Vuitton to Sainsbury’s, at her consultancy, Portas. Now, she’s channelling her decades of expertise into a mission to rethink the way we shop, by championing the small, independent businesses that, she says, “create the much-needed vibrancy and fresh thinking that our high streets and economy desperately need”.
