On Saturday morning, I found myself at the top of Glasgow’s Buchanan Street. It was 10.30 am, and to my left, Donald Dewar was gazing down on a thronging high street, already bustling even before brunch.

It’s a sharp contrast to the story we tell ourselves about Aberdeen, where another week has passed, and we’ve attempted to dissect the struggles of Union Street.

It shouldn’t be difficult to analyse where things have gone askew.

Global socio-economic shifts toward a digital marketplace, through both social media and online shopping, supercharged by the pandemic, have combined with major local economic factors – the downturn in oil and gas, for example, or the construction of Union Square – to create a lasting issue for our traditional high street.

Glasgow, which has not been without post-pandemic struggles of its own. Take a walk down the formerly glamorous Sauchiehall, which has as a whole, been better insulated against these things by sheer population size, ease of transport options, and visitors for leisure and entertainment.

Note that I haven’t mentioned bus gates once.

It’s galling, I suppose, to see what appears to be such a thriving trading environment in a city at arm’s length, and which isn’t all that different from our own, although much larger. It’s also difficult to unpick from a throng of causes exactly which issues to focus our ire on.

It’s easier to direct our frustration at traffic flow measures, which can more readily be removed or voted away, than it is to put online shopping back in a box; to unbuild a shopping centre, Union Square, which is, quite frankly, always busy, or to await the Second Coming of the glory days of oil and gas.

I’ve stopped using Amazon in a small attempt to help save Aberdeen city centre

To do my bit, this year I’ve decided to stop using Amazon. We have to be honest about the impact that even one huge multinational retailer has had on our high street. It’s not the only problem – remember, supermarkets like Asda and Tesco have been at the ‘all-under-one-roof’ game for years – but it’s the biggest problem.

I nearly cracked last week while building Ikea bookshelves, casting around to find inexpensive angle brackets to neaten their stance. I teetered on the edge of account reactivation before ordering them from B&Q, bookshelves, and I, both now standing firm.

1% of the world’s timber is turned into an Ikea product. B&Q and Screwfix are both owned by the same company. And I, avowledly trying to find ways to support city centre retail, still won’t have visited the city centre through the bookshelf debacle until I buy more books for the spaces on the shelves.

The point being that retail has just changed, almost uniformly. It probably isn’t coming back. ‘Stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times’, as the man says.

Regeneration is a long and winding road

I’ve written before about how city centres might best see themselves reinvigorated within this heavily changed landscape – arts, food and hospitality and improved transport and active travel links.

It will be a long road and take serious investment, but there’s no advantage in pretending that the reality is any different.

As long as everyone continues to do the majority of their shopping online and while away their time on Facebook, Instagram or Teams and Zoom, instead of socialising and doing business in person, city centres outside of major populations will struggle.

Meanwhile, the best we can do is the small things which add up. Take that trip, or walk, into the city and buy something from a shop. Meet a friend and have a coffee. Learn the best route into the city centre’s car parks – the same places you parked before the bus gates were installed are still available.

And consider that in the end, the necessary processes for change for a city like Aberdeen, whether that be more city centre living, full pedestrianisation of Union Street, something Buchanan Street has been for years or a better range of local, niche shops and suppliers, which can thrive outside of online shopping, will take time to build.

As they say, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. Aberdeen has been at a peculiar confluence of economic problems; it will take more than one quick fix, policy plan or star attraction to sort.

Colin Farquhar worked as a creative spaces manager and film programmer in the north-east culture sector.

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