A seismic shift in shopping habits during the recession, and a land grab by the major supermarkets, are key factors in the revival of Britain’s blighted high streets. And its not just shoppers returning to the town centres, claims a new survey, retailers are also choosing the town centre over shopping complexes and retail parks.
According to a study published by business advisors Deloitte the retail vacancy rate across the UK has now fallen to just 20 per cent, far outstripping the 37 per cent for out-of-town retail parks and 29 per cent for shopping centres.
The Local Data Company compiled report — which looked at almost 6,000 retail properties nationwide — showed that 43 per cent of shops which closed during the recession now have a new occupant. The biggest take up of premises which ceased trading through bankruptcy has been by the discount store sector. Half of all “pound shop” expansion since 2008 has occupied post-administration property with convenience stores accounting for 12 per cent of the remaining space.
“This pattern suggests a change in shopping habits inspired by the recession and mobile commerce, as the major supermarkets move the battleground in their ‘race for space’ to the high street,” says Deloitte.
Andrew Coticelli is a consumer business partner at Deloitte. He believes technology and the internet are also pushing consumers back to the high street. “Historically, retailers have talked about ‘destination’ shopping locations. However, different and more cautious consumer spending patterns have joined forces with a technology-powered convenience culture which demands that goods and services are available as and where the consumer demands,” explains Coticelli.
Rather than taking shoppers away, the internet is attracting people back to town centre shops with the click-and-collect boom leading the way, he adds. “The evidence suggests that we may be entering a new era of ‘en route’ shopping, powered by mobile shopping and the demand for collection points strategically located at a point between where the consumer is travelling from and to.”
Despite Britain’s high streets consistently outperforming larger out-of-town retail complexes, not every region fared so well. In Greater London the 18 per cent vacancy rate was better than the national average, but in Yorkshire and Humberside vacancies were 28 per cent. The highest percentage of empty shops was in Scotland where 37 per cent of premises remained empty.
And not all businesses have been as swift on the take-up of empty properties. Unexpectedly charity shops, pawnbrokers and bookmakers trailed other recent town centre occupiers. According to the data, just 3 per cent of vacant or post-administration premises have been occupied by charity shops and less than 0.01 per cent have been turned into pawnbrokers or bookmakers. In fact, the growth in online and mobile gambling seems to have stalled any increase in betting shop numbers.
“The results of this research are surprising and seem to challenge a number of myths around the state of the high street,” concluded Hugo Clark, a Deloitte director and author of the report. “They would suggest that far from being dead, the high street appears to be showing great resilience and a capacity for reinvention. It seems that a structural shift is taking place with the high street emerging as an unexpected winner.”
