Birmingham city centre has been transformed. It now provides a vastly improved trading environment with a shopping, cultural and leisure experience to match. However, increased footfall and customer expectations have been tempered by reduced consumer confidence and retail spend and retail business managers in Birmingham city centre have identified longer term opportunities and challenges, including:

• Achieve a better customer mix
• Develop and diversify Birmingham’s retail offer
• Provide a welcoming and positive customer experience
• Enhance retail theft and other crime prevention measures
• Stimulate footfall across the whole retail area
• Address impact of greater consumer shopping online
• Manage implications of further property and infrastructure investment
• Plan for the impact of actual and threatened terrorist activities
• Engage and communicate with all city centre retailers
• Promote and pro-actively influence the future Retail Birmingham agenda