Expert Eye with

John Shepherd

Owner and Managing Director of Partridges

  • “The results are in”

    06 February 2017 Expert Eye
    I am pleased to report that Christmas 2016 proved to be our busiest Christmas yet. For the 24 days of December up to Christmas Day itself, we were 5.7% up on 2016. For the entire month of December 2016 our...

  • “Reasons to be cheerful”

    02 January 2017 Expert Eye
    As I write this halfway through November 2016, the very thought of the past year causes a sharp intake of breath. The Brexit uncertainty, the American election, declining sales and a fainting pound scarcely bring a smile to the face...

  • “Six things I learned this year”

    03 November 2016 Expert Eye
    We are now just about to enter our 45th year at Partridges. So much has been learned along the way and (dare I say it) quite a lot forgotten. However, in every year that passes there is, it seems, an...

  • “What are the Brexit brands?”

    04 October 2016 Expert Eye

  • “What’s so good about summer?”

    25 August 2016 Expert Eye
    For all my working life in speciality food, we have yearned for the balmy, sunshine days of summer when customers seem in a happier frame of mind and have the delightful tendency to spend a little more money in a...

  • “Brexit or Breginning?”

    12 July 2016 Expert Eye
    To be uncertain is to be uncomfortable. So runs half a Chinese proverb. As a retailer I can readily agree with that

  • “The Royal Connection”

    17 May 2016 Expert Eye
    I am writing this article on April 21st – H.M. the Queen’s 90th Birthday – and very many happy returns are in order. This is not, of course, Her Majesty’s official birthday, which falls on June 12th, but the actual day on...

  • “The Bologna Ratio”

    22 April 2016 Expert Eye
    Last year I visited one of my favourite places – Bologna in Northern Italy, often described as Italy’s culinary capital

  • “Is price important to speciality food shops?”

    15 March 2016 Expert Eye
    Known Value Items or KVIs are literally the bread and butter of supermarkets and convenience stores. Not only because bread and butter features on the list of items, but because they are the products that form the price perception of...

  • “Christmas Trading 2015”

    29 January 2016 Expert Eye
    'Tis the season to be analysing the Christmas trading figures... So how was it for Partridges in 2015?
    • page 3 of 5