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Vacant shops to reach highest ever level by end of 2009
Tuesday January 6th 2009
Experian expects the UK vacancy rate in the high street to rise rapidly from 7 per cent to 10 per cent by February 2009.
This will leave a total of 90,000 vacant outlets, one in ten of all retail outlets across the UK. Vacancies will occur as costs overcome retailers forcing a combination of store disposals, admi
By the end of 2009, Experian expects vacancy rates to rise to 15 per cent, a total of 135,000 outlets, the highest ever recorded vacancy rate for the UK.
Jonathan de Mello, Director of Retail Consultancy commented: “The unprecedented level of retail vacancy will be disproportionately spread across Britain, so that smaller retail destinations, in particular market towns across Britain, will be worse affected. The loss of major multiples such as Woolworths will leave a significant gap in these towns and is likely to have a knock on effect with other retailers. Many local authorities and centre managers will face a challenge this year, as they seek to reverse the effects of retail decline. The large scale retail business failure is also expected to have a significant impact on high street returns, affecting investors’ yields on rents as well as rates and other income sources collected by local authorities.
“This is not to forget the devastating impact on people’s jobs and livelihoods” added De Mello. “Britain is still a nation of shop keepers and the retail sector is one of the UK’s largest employers. It is not just people directly employed by retailers that will suffer from the fallout this Christmas, it is also their suppliers and service providers.”
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