More than 1 in 10 shops now stand empty

vivatifosi

Couldn't find the original thread on the high street to link to, so starting over.

Per the Telegraph, more than one in ten shops now stand empty following a series of high-profile failures such as Clintons. The number is likely to rise even higher with the closure of Comet stores. The worst area of the UK is Northern Ireland, with 1/5th of retail space empty.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9686342/More-than-one-in-10-shops-standing-empty.html

wymondham

The changes i think are brought about by the web.... why pay for a shop when you can avoid it if you sell over the web? Plus if you do have a shop you'll always be undercut by those who are web only which is probably why so many are going to the wall...

I can see local shops turning into 'essentials only' or specialist advice etc - anything else where you can wait for a delivery will be web based....

One thing the web can do that local shops can't is you can always get what you want.... it's impossible for a shop to stock every item whereas a quick google will find exactly what you're after...

I can only see more shops closing...

princeofpounds

On the positive side, it frees up more space for extra estate agent chains.

Carl31

Part of me thinks that the high street is doomed, but then as a nation we enjoy shopping as a passtime. Go to any mall or large centre like bluewater and the places are still pretty rammed

i think out of town complexes will be the future, like in the states

Generali

I reckon that for a lot of companies, shops will exist primarily as display and customer service centres rather than as places to make actual sales as such. They will be shifted into the marketing part of the organisation rather than the sales part.

I also think there is a fortune to be made by someone setting these up and running them for companies. All you'd need is one company to bite and they'd be beating down your door if you did it right.

Pennywise

Don't forget that the "High Street" as we know it was only a temporary blip anyway. Town centres used to be where people lived and worked - housing, factories, warehouses, print works, breweries, doctors, dentists, vets, etc. Shops were just part and parcel mixed in. People and business moved out of towns and the "High St" was taken over by large retail, in the process of which, thousands of small corner shops in the outskirts and suburbs were sacrificed. We're only talking 3/4 decades ago and there was a shop on virtually every street corner. People have got fed up with the Identikit High Streets where the motorist is the enemy and now shop in car-friendly retail parks and online. I'm seeing a return to localised and specialist shopping - I'm seeing more and more NEW Spar shops, Londis, etc opening up in the suburbs and outskirts - now people don't want to go into towns anymore, there's a return to the need for local shops when you don't want to trek to the retail park. There's also been a return to the need for specialist shops where advice is needed - these were also damaged by the High St and the stroppy useless teen staff they employ - now there's a return to specialists being valued again. It's just evolution of shopping habits. No point trying to swim against the tide. People and councils need to accept that the High Street won't be coming back and that town centres need to be returned to places where people live and work. Just the normal process of the pendulum swinging back after going too far one way.

Wookster

This must be driving down rental costs in non-prime locations. Coupled with a good supply of labour, the costs of which haven't risen much in 5 years, its quite surprising more businesses have not opened.

prowla

The high street is an unwelcoming place these days - you have to pay exorbitant parking fees for the privilege of giving shops your custom.

I've been to a shop to buy an item and they say that they can order it in and charge you for delivery - well, why bother going into the shop for that? I don't see the point of going to a shop just to be given a brochure for an item they don't have.

I've been to a shop to buy something that they offer cheaper online, and been told that they can't match that price (even when ordering it for me from the same warehouse!), so I've walked out having bought nothing.

If a shop wants to sell me something then it (a) needs to welcome me there, (b) have the item there for me to buy, and (c) offer it at a reasonable price.

Graham_Devon

As pennywise says, it's just restructuring itself.

It seems to have continual attention, however, we all know those with the most influence are the councils. They keep on making it harder and harder to use towns though. They have just introduced "traffic calming" in a town near me, and it's certainly calmed traffic....so much so, people don't use that route anymore unless they absolutely have to...meaning they avoid the town altogether.

!!! to that stupid parking charges and it's a none starter. Another town near myself, where I work, offered 3 hours free parking a day (between 10am and 1pm), and statistics show shopper numbers are up by around 30%.

It doesn't take a genius....

Offer 1 hours free parking, with meaningful parking spaces. I don't know if anyone else has witnessed car parking spaces simply hatched off, and a sign post plonked in the middle? Maybe it's just here, as they try and incentivise the use of park and ride facilities. Just winds people up as more and more spaces dissapear to hold a sign with an arrow and "pay and display" on it.

People don't want to park up, get a bus, to do a little shopping or visit the bank, get a bus again, get back to the car....while being charged a fiver. They just want to get in and get out....but the more of those people walking around, the more that are likely to visit other shops while they are in town. Councils down here appear to treat the town centre as a tourist attraction charging at every opportunity.

SailorSam

I think expensive parking has been a main cause of the death of local shops. Up to last year we had free parking in our local town centre but as soon as charges were introduced you could see the difference, and more people went to the local Tesco where they could park for free even if they only wanted 1 or 2 things
If only the first half hour parking was left free it would encourage use of the local high street

IveSeenTheLight

vivatifosi wrote: »

Couldn't find the original thread on the high street to link to, so starting over.

Per the Telegraph, more than one in ten shops now stand empty following a series of high-profile failures such as Clintons. The number is likely to rise even higher with the closure of Comet stores. The worst area of the UK is Northern Ireland, with 1/5th of retail space empty.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9686342/More-than-one-in-10-shops-standing-empty.html

I now shop more andmore over the internet.
Many others do too.

High Street contraction was likely to occur even if the economy was expanding.