At the end of the week, Stafford Borough Council launched their retail mini-site shining a spotlight on retail in Stone, Eccleshall and Stafford – Stone being designated as the place for “Creativity and Crafts”
The mini-site shines define’s the Borough’s “Retail Triangle” proclaiming:
“Our beautiful borough boasts three unique towns, each offering a unique shopping experience. Together they provide everything you need for a spot of retail therapy, from the personal touch of Eccleshall to the big brands of Stafford and the creativity of Stone.
Nestling safely inside our own retail triangle, Eccleshall, Stafford and Stone provide a safe, secure, fun and friendly high street visit – all within easy travelling distance via road, rail or bike.”
Whilst we love to see the Borough Council investing in promoting our town and High Street, the mini-site comes up severely short. If you click to Uncover Stone, you’ll notice pictures of Mo from Mo’s Deli and Susan from The Artisan Boutique, neither of which business appear in the – Browse Shops and Trader section – a directory for the town which includes merely six businesses – none of which fit with the Creativity and Crafts strapline we’ve been given.
I must say that I do like the All For One strapline that’s been used for the campaign – a sign of unity throughout the Borough and highlighting that each town has its own identity but collectively they come together.
Stone is renowned as the Food and Drink capital of the county, not just the Borough, however, the food and drink strapline went to Eccleshall. We ran a quiz on our social media accounts showing the images and the straplines, not one person managed to reconcile Stone’s strapline and image.
Head on over to OurBeautifulBorough.co.uk website to take a look for yourself – and feedback on our social media your thoughts and impressions.
If you want more complete business directories for the town then I’d certainly recommend that you check out the Stone Traders Group’s own website, StoneIsWhereTheHeartIs.co.uk or our own directory at alittlebitofstone.com/directory.
Funded by the EU’s European Regional Development Fund, the team behind the project have visited the various towns and spent time chatting with the many independent business owners that each town has. From this feedback on the state of the High Street, the Borough Council has an insight into changes and positive developments into how the towns are coping and also evolving throughout the Covid pandemic.
We hope that the mini-site is the start of a campaign that will develop and expand to more showcase our beautiful town.
