Roger Smith, Business Information Officer

Are you a high street business looking for some support after the challenges of the past couple of years? Or maybe you’ve just started out on the high street?

Meet Roger, one of our team of High Street specialists. He’s regularly out and about in Hillsborough.

Roger is a dependable pair of hands, always encouraging and forward thinking. Known for shedding fresh light on situations that have been left in the dark, Roger brings a wealth of knowledge and experience developed from working with leading brands & retailers (and not just in the UK- Europe, the US and Japan too) And he’s been part of the team from the first lockdown when businesses needed support to survive so he knows what the past few years have been like on the high street and what practical help looks like.

Roger loves everything retail. He started his very early career on the high street in consumer electronics sales. Now with over 35 years’ experience in retail- everything from operations, commercial, research and business ownership- he’s here to offer his insights and experience to Sheffield businesses who want to move from surviving to thriving. His approach is to start by the business telling him what’s going on and from there Roger takes an external view before meeting to discuss the challenges, create an action plan and work out where support is needed.

Roger cites working with independent high street businesses since 2020 as some of the most rewarding work he has ever done. He knows that visibility and accessibility are key areas of concern for any business wanting to increase footfall and customer engagement in today’s trading conditions and he’s here to help businesses do just that.

People know Roger as supportive and encouraging- he’s easy to work with no matter what your issue is. Like all our advisors, he’s helpfully connected into colleagues at the council to assist with things like licensing or street cleaning. And he has the knowledge to help you get things sorted.