While conversations about the effects on bricks & mortar retail from e-commerce, Brexit and Covid have been well-rehearsed, their impact on employment deserves more of a spotlight.

This article sets out well the challenges of staffing within the sector, and much of it could apply to most if not all of the workplace, here and around the developed world. There are parallels with the property profession too, which links to retail at both its back (logistics) and front (shops) doors.

After all, change creates opportunities as well as adversity and the chance to evolve should never be far from our thoughts.

For me personally, that means a career change. So it’s time to leave the world of retail and property, with the full support and understanding of some exceptionally talented and wonderful people in the partnership, to pursue my passion for animals and undertake a degree in Zoology – and the chance to think about evolution from an entirely different angle.

I move on with some valued memories of great projects, teams and friends and for those I haven’t spoken to already, thank you for the last 25+ years – it’s been a blast.