Prestatyn’s independent retailers and high street businesses were given a real boost during the visit in March 2011.

The Shop Doctor Diane Jackson, Managing Director of Main Marketing is a retail marketing specialist with a real passion for helping independent retailers survive and thrive. She was invited by Denbighshire County Council to help the retail businesses in the Prestatyn area; the initiative was funded by Prestatyn Business Growth Partnership and championed by Michelle Rendell, the Prestatyn Regeneration Officer. This meant that the local businesses could attend free of charge - and they were delighted with the practical help they received. 

The Shop Doctor programme consisted of four workshops or ‘surgeries’ on different facets of marketing including injecting great customer service ideas into business, taking the temperature of advertising and promotions and a spoonful of visual merchandising medicine. Spread over two weeks, the workshops were held in Studio 2 in the Scala Cinema in Prestatyn from 6 to 8.30pm and attended by 17 retailers.

In an independent survey of delegates after the surgeries they agreed they were now able “to look at the shop with fresh eyes.” The reaction of photographer Geoff Abbott from Premier Portraits was typical: “I thought the Shop Doctor was absolutely brilliant and very informative. I’ve started looking at my business in a whole new way, both in the window, the shop and what I offer my customers. She made me realise there’s a science to it.”