With our keynote speaker Ketul Patel and expert panel we explored the concept of Community Retailing, sharing innovations and lessons from successful community retail operations.
Date: Thursday 7th November 2024
Time: 5.30 for 6pm start
Venue: Post Office, 3rd Floor, 100 Wood St. London. EC2V 7AN
Nearest Tube Stations: St Pauls, Barbican, Moorgate
Agenda
- 5.30 – 6.00pm – Registration
- 6.00 – 6.10pm – Introduction – Andy Thompson – Co-Chair, The SLA
- 6.10 – 6.40pm – Ketul Patel, Head of Network Planning, Post Office Ltd, Community Postmasters and History of Post Office
- 6.40 – 7.10pm – Panel Session – What is a community in retail and what are their needs? Hosted by Steve Halsall, Co-Chair of the SLA.
- Ketul Patel, Senior Business Consultant, Post Office Ltd
- Chris Noice, Director of Communications, Association of Convenience Stores
- Karen Richardson, Head of Branch Development, Newcastle Building Society
- 7.10 – 7.40pm- Student Awards 2024 presentations – We will hear from our two winning students who will present a ten minute summary of their dissertation. Hosted by Luke Burns, University of Leeds
- 7.40pm – Concluding remarks and networking
To see speaker presentations scroll down to the Members Areas below…
Speaker Synopsis
Ketul Patel, Senior Business Consultant, Post Office Ltd
Ketul will be demonstrating how the Post Office has been at the heart of literally every community in the UK and how Postmasters are at the forefront of this. He will explore how they have achieved this and what’s in store for the future of our communities.
Panellists
Joining our host, Steve Halsall, Co-chair of the SLA will be:
- Ketul Patel, Head of Network Planning, Post Office Ltd
- Chris Noice, Director Of Communications, Association of Convenience Stores
- Karen Richardson, Head of Branch Development, Newcastle Building Society
We look forward to an interesting discussion on all things community retailing.
Speaker Biographies
Ketul Patel, Head of Network Planning, Post Office Ltd
Ketul has been Head of Network Planning since 2019.
He has had involvement in multiple roles in the Post Office over the last 30 years including customer service, Property, Programmes, and Strategy.
In his spare time he is a keen rambler, runner, mountaineer, and entrepreneur.
Chris Noice, Director Of Communications, Association of Convenience Stores
Chris Noice has 15 years of experience in the retail sector, joining the Association of Convenience Stores in 2009.
As Communications Director, he is responsible for all ACS external and internal communications, media relations and a growing research portfolio which includes the industry leading Local Shop Report. Chris is an official spokesperson for ACS, appearing frequently on national and regional radio and television news.
Karen Richardson, Head of Branch Development, Newcastle Building Society
Whilst working in Finance for over 25 years , the last 18 years have been spent at the Building Society in the branch network and most recently the last 12 months working in this seconded role. Currently my main responsibility is to identify new locations for our branch network; this involves both looking at standalone locations, those that you traditionally know on the High Street as well as partnership opportunities in shared locations such as libraries, community centres and most recently the YMCA. I am particularly proud of bringing our purpose to life “connecting communities for a better financial future “ to life through local engagement
I have been a mental health 1st aider for 10 years and a trustee at 2 local charities , one supporting young people and the other a food bank and community shop
In my spare time I can be found walking my dog Ozzie sampling the local coffee shops or planning holidays in the sunshine
A few images from the evening
High Street Positives
We also heard about a fantastic initiated instigated by Laura Harris of LH Analytics. If you’re fed up with the bad news and doom and gloom of high street closure, get involved with High Street Positives.
Member’s area
This is our member’s only section. If you are not yet a member, please join and you will be sent the password to access the presentations from the event. Membership is free; click here to join.
Please email info@thesla.org is you have any problem accessing the member’s area.