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Investment in convenience sector hits record high of £1bn

17 Sep 2024

Over the last year, convenience retailers have spent a combined £1bn (up from £646m in the previous 12 months) refitting their stores, installing new energy efficient refrigeration... Read more…

Bira responds cautiously to encouraging trends in KPMG Retail Sales Monitor report.

3 Sep 2024

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has responded to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for August 2024. The report, which can be downloaded here, has highlighted:
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Pet Shop owner nominated for award for food bank donations

2 Sep 2024

Rebecca Harrington, owner of Purdy's pet shop in Coventry, has been nominated in the animal category at BBC CWR's Make a Difference awards for providing pet food parcels to food banks
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Standardised witness statement developed for retailers submitting CCTV evidence to the polic

2 Sep 2024

The National Business Crime Centre (NBCC), in collaboration with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police forces, has developed a standardised witness statement for retailers submitting... Read more…

Sheffield’s new independent retail hub opens to the public

2 Sep 2024

A redeveloped Grade II* Listed hub in Sheffield has opened its doors to the public for the first time, providing a contemporary city centre hub for some of the city’s finest... Read more…

Government urged to protect independent retailers as part of living wage increases

2 Sep 2024

The national president of the Federation of Independent Retailers has written to the new secretary of state for business and trade, Jonathan Reynolds, to highlight the impact of higher wages on... Read more…

Barbers to test blood pressure to fight inequality

2 Sep 2024

Two barber shops in south London are offering customers free blood pressure tests to tackle undiagnosed health issues amongst black and Asian men.
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Bira welcomes recent Bank of England interest rate cut

14 Aug 2024

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has welcomed the Bank of England’s recent decision to cut interest rates from 5.25% to 5%.
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Community rallies around shop owner’s appeal after ‘devastating’ break-in

14 Aug 2024

A shop owner in Bramley, West Leeds, has thanked kind-hearted members of the community after her shop was targeted by burglars.
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National and local governments called on to invest in the repair of the retail sector after recent riots.

14 Aug 2024

The recent wave of civil unrest in the has dealt a severe blow to the UK retail sector, with high-street stalwarts and independent stores alike bearing the brunt of the violence.
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Local leaders claim up to 40% of shops must be repurposed in next five years

Posted on in Business News

Up to 40% of shops will need to be reinvented into anything from go-kart tracks to food markets over the next five years or “wither on the vine” as demand for physical retail wanes, local leaders have claimed.

The need to repurpose retail space was named as the biggest concern for local authorities, landlords, developers and other town centre management professionals as part of a survey by their trade body Revo and the consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH).

empty shop

The research showed 61% of those surveyed believed that between 20% and 40% of retail space needs to be reinvented in the next five years for leisure, hospitality, health or civic use, with 12% of those surveyed claiming even more space than that will need to be repurposed.

The issue ranked higher than inflation and a recession, the business rates burden and competition between physical stores and online shopping.

“There is a danger that if our towns don’t transform then some will wither on the vine before the decade is out,” said Vivienne King, the chief executive of Revo, speaking to The Guardian.

Steve Norris, head of regeneration and planning at LSH, said: “This shows the scale of the challenge town centres are facing and the radical surgery required.”

However, Norris said it was not “all doom and gloom for town centres” as “we are entering into one of the most exciting and creative periods in their long history as it is not just about retail anymore. It could be a town centre renaissance”.

At a recent conference delegates discussed bringing homes, offices, food and drink venues, entertainment and markets into space no longer required for shops.
Green space and more attractive spaces where local people can spend time – without feeling the need to spend money – were also seen as an important part of reviving places that have taken a battering from the rise of online shopping, the Covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

The disappearance of large store chains – including Debenhams, BHS, Topshop – and closure of important city centre sites by House of Fraser, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis have left many local authorities with space that is difficult to fill with more retail.

Department stores are being reinvented as student lecture halls, hotels, shared offices, go-kart tracks and indoor food markets in a bid to bring new life on to high streets and shopping malls. However, half of local authorities who took part in the survey said they had scaled back or put on hold their plans until the economy improved and 2% said they had abandoned them completely. A fifth of private companies questioned said their development plans were on hold, just over a fifth said they had scaled back while 3% they had ditched a project.

According to analysts at the Local Data Company, redevelopment reached a new high, with 10,739 units repurposed in 2022, compared with 9,139 in 2021 and 7,307 in 2019 before the pandemic. About 15% of UK retail sites lay vacant last year.

LDC found that a fifth of Debenhams stores, which were closed in 2021 after the department store went into administration, have been repurposed while almost half – 48.5% – remain empty.

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