What's crucial in a High Street store is a compelling reason for people to shop there. Shops must offer excellent customer service - and 'theatre' is a must.
In the 1960s, my first-generation immigrant parents were gifted the olive branch of a blue British passport when working for the British Army in Cyprus. It completely transformed the Paphitis story.
The high street is not a retail thing: it's a social thing, part of the British lifestyle. And I say that as someone who started his life on Limassol high street in Cyprus.
In Cyprus, our house was right on the beach. I could walk out of our front door, cross a road, and there was the sea.
I was born in Cyprus, but my family moved to England when I was about six.
What the entrepreneur gets on 'Dragons' Den' is direct access to people with masses of experience who can actually make quick decisions.
If you look at all the investments made during 'Dragons' Den,' the ratio of those that make it to those that don't is actually extremely high.
When I was on 'Dragons' Den,' most of the letters I received were from people under 16. They wrote about their ideas, their views, their challenges. The audience is actually a very young audience.
'Dragons' Den' and 'The Apprentice' have opened people's eyes to what they can do.
The reality in business and in 'Dragons' Den' is you win some, and you lose some.
My parents divorced, my brothers and I ended up living with my mother, and we were living with the choice of heating or eating. My mum was working, but she needed financial support to make ends meet. I had to have free school dinners and free school uniforms.
The more we learn about dyslexia, the more able we will be to help those with it.
I love the English language, but I'm crap at it, so I might as well do what I'm good at. The same goes for my kids, who are also dyslexic. I won't pressure them to do anything. They've each got a trust and a mortgage-free property, which is a lot more than I had, so I know they will always be fine.
Both my sons are dyslexic, and so, too, in a much milder form, is one of my daughters.
Young people are the entrepreneurs of the future, and we should be looking to them as one of our sources of innovation for the high streets of tomorrow.
I'm a traditionalist, a family man. I love my kids. I believe I have brought them up the right way. They are all very different: they have different drives, different ambitions. They are never going to be me. They are going to be themselves.
Women have to work harder to be in the same position as a fella because they often have to balance work with running a family.
The decisions you make when you leave school define the rest of your life. So, in terms of making the right choices for your financial security as you get older, my best advice is to do something you have an interest in and are passionate about, as you'll be working for a long time.
If the cash runs out, it's like a heart attack for you and your business. Keep that front and centre of your mind, and you will have financial security and not be struggling to pay the bills.
I know I have been lucky in business, and I am keen now to spread goodwill to others, of course not forgetting that very often, you make your own luck by making use of every opportunity.
