Shopper Discounts and Rewards explores the slow recovery of the UK high street

Last week, we looked at the ‘Queen of Shops’, Mary Portas, her appearance in front of MPs and reflected on how the British High Street could be saved. Since then, a new report has been published by the Local Data Company, looking at retail occupancy rates. This Shopper Discounts and Rewards entry looks at the report in detail.

an improving situation on the High Street…

There has been a huge amount written about the decline of the British High Street – much of it attributed to the increase in online shopping, so it is perhaps surprising that vacancies on the High Street have been falling over the past year. Vacancies in large centres are now running at 13.5% (down 2.7%), while they were down to 11.9% in medium centres (from 15%) and lowest of all in small town centres where they are at 9.2% (from 10.6%).

Cafés and restaurants – along with betting shops – have stepped in to fill some of the void caused by the lingering effects of the recession and reduced consumer spending.

…but still difficult elsewhere

Whilst the story on the High Street is one of modest improvement, this is offset elsewhere. Overall, the Local Data Company reports that the occupancy rate is broadly static at 14.1% – a 0.1% improvement since February.

Retail Parks and Shopping Centres meanwhile also remain problematic. Shopping centres have the highest rates of vacancies (16.1%) a figure that has barely moved over the last year (it was previously 16.2%). Retail Parks have increased in vacant units, moving from 8.1% to 9.6% – not helped by the failure of businesses like Comet.

a regional divide

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a significant difference in the number of empty units around the country. 84% of the worst affected areas are in the North, Midlands or Wales. In the North West, one in five shops (20.1%) is vacant, yet in London this figure is as low as 9.4%. The two most polarised locations were West End in Morecambe, Lancashire and Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. A massive 37.1% of shops were vacant in Morecambe, compared to just 1% in Rickmansworth. Matthew Hopkinson from Local Data Company:

“This report clearly shows that whilst the rise of empty shops has stalled it still remains stubbornly high for many towns up and down the country. Since August 2010 the national average has been above 14%, with a significant number being ‘long-term sick’ with little or no prospect of reoccupation as shops”

Mary Portas about the High Street Report | International Online Shopping to Triple