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The Times publishes its list of the seven best shopping streets in the UK

24 Jun 2024

The Times has just published its list of the seven best shopping streets in the UK.
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Indie retail village wins Hospitality Hero Velvet Award for 2024

24 Jun 2024

An independent retail village in Ely that celebrates its one-year anniversary this month has won the Hospitality Hero Velvet Award for 2024.
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Bike shop owner slams police’s “abject apathy” after three shops broken into in one night

24 Jun 2024

A cycle shop owner has criticised the police’s “abject apathy” towards bike theft after thieves attempted to break into his store for the second time in a year, on the same... Read more…

A simple comparison of the General Election manifestos

24 Jun 2024

With less than three weeks to go until the General Election, Bira has produced a simple table comparing manifestos for Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Reform UK, and... Read more…

Independents Day message - supporting independent shops boosts local jobs and economies.

24 Jun 2024

With the annual Independents’ Day weekend coming up on July 6th and 7th, independent retailers have been reinforcing the message that supporting independent shops boosts... Read more…

Euro 2024 predicted to deliver multi-million-pound boost for independent retailers

24 Jun 2024

Research from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has suggested 6% of shoppers will buy a new TV or electronic device during the Euros, 4% will purchase official merchandise and nearly 10% will... Read more…

Bira leads £1 billion damages claim against Amazon by UK retailers in landmark collective action

12 Jun 2024

A £1 billion damages claim has been filed against Amazon on behalf of retailers selling on Amazon’s UK marketplace for illegally misusing their data and manipulating the Amazon Buy... Read more…

Bira responds to KPMG Retail Sales Monitor report

10 Jun 2024

The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has responded to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for May 2024.
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Small independent Harrogate shop does it again at the national level with new awards glory

10 Jun 2024

Independent Harrogate computer shop Phase 4 Computers has been named as a finalist in the Tech Awards 2024.
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Knutsford fashion show highlights town's 'amazing independent shops'

10 Jun 2024

Independent boutiques in Knutsford have teamed up once again to showcase their new designs at the third Flash Fashion.
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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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