S5: Creating the future of retail, with Roger Wade, founder of Boxpark
Conversations of Inspiration
Holly Tucker MBE
5.0 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2019
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Holly & Roger discuss the future of the high street, their shared passion for independents, and how though his visionary concept for Boxpark, Roger is disrupting the world of retail.
Roger started his career in advertising, being fired twice before moving to the US where he discovered his passion for American streetwear and recognised the huge market there was for it back in the UK. So on the third time of being fired, he realised that he needed to be his own boss, and start his own business.
He founded Boxfresh in 1989, initially selling streetwear from his market stall, but eventually growing the business to being an international company turning over £20 million a year, before selling it and founding his latest venture Boxpark. Known as ‘the world’s first pop up mall’, Boxpark is a unique shopping concept made up from shipping containers, offering independents a much more affordable and flexible retail space.
Enjoying listening to these unfiltered chats? It's worth following Holly Tucker MBE and Holly & Co on Instagram, and subscribing to our weekly newsletter on our website, where Holly downloads her thoughts, and exclusively shares small business finds and topical, 'ungoogleable' business advice.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm Holly Tucker and welcome to my podcast Conversations of Inspiration. |
| 0:06.7 | Found of Not on the High Street and Holly and Co. I'm the UK Ambassador of Creative Small |
| 0:12.4 | Businesses. |
| 0:13.7 | I believe that having a business doing what you love is the key to a happy, fulfilled life, |
| 0:20.3 | and my dream is to help everyone start theirs. |
| 0:24.0 | I'm here to offer advice, inspiration, wisdom and encouragement. |
| 0:29.0 | And in my view, the greatest way to do this is by sharing stories. |
| 0:33.6 | So I've reached out to all my favorite small businesses, |
| 0:37.0 | acclaimed entrepreneurs, and those who just simply inspire me |
| 0:41.8 | and ask them to share theirs. With thanks to our sponsor Nat West |
| 0:46.3 | who have helped bring this free podcast to life. Here are my conversations of |
| 0:51.6 | inspiration. are my Conversations of Inspiration. |
| 0:53.0 | Bough your head and let your islands close on down where we're going. |
| 0:58.0 | This week on Conversations of Inspiration, I'm speaking to Roger Wade, founder of Box Park. |
| 1:05.0 | Roger Wade, founder of Box Park. |
| 1:05.0 | Roger founded his first business, Box Fresh, in 1989, where he sold American |
| 1:11.2 | Streetware from his market store, growing to become a business that sold internationally, turning over 20 million pounds a year. |
| 1:20.0 | Learning everything he needed to know about running a successful business, Roger sold it and went on to found his latest venture Box Park. |
| 1:29.0 | Known as the world's first pop-up mall, Box Park is a shopping site made up of shipping containers |
| 1:35.8 | offering independence a much more affordable and flexible retail space |
| 1:41.5 | opening now in three venues, Short at the original, but now Croydon and Wembley, Box Park is a place to eat, shop, drink and now have a community experience. I met Roger at Wembley where I got a wonderful |
| 1:56.4 | tour of Box Park eating a delicious lunch and sitting down for the most inspiring of |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Holly Tucker MBE, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Holly Tucker MBE and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.