UK shop vacancy level at 11.2% in May – BRC
The British Retail Consortium’s latest research indicates that the national shop vacancy rate on the UK’s high streets and shopping centres in May this year was 11.2% – with the highest regional rates for vacant retail property in Northern Ireland (17.1%), Wales (13.4%) and the North and Yorkshire (13.1%).
Recent research from the Local Data Company calculated the Q2 2011 national shop vacancy level at 14.5%, and noted a wide variation between retail centres, with vacant retail property levels ranging from 40% at Rawtenstall to just 1% at Winton near Bournemouth.
The BRC/Springboard-ACTM footfall and vacancies monitor for May-July 2011 also says that footfall is in decline as consumers face high inflation, low wage growth and uncertainty about future job prospects. Overall footfall was down 1% year-on-year for May-July, with visits to out-of-town shopping centres dropping 1.9% while shopping centre footfall rose 0.6%. High-street footfall was down 1.6% for the period.
“Over the last 12 months high streets on average have seen the highest drop in footfall of 2.6%. The hardest hit locations were Wales (-9.2%), the West Midlands (-6.6%) and the East of England (-6.2%), which recorded the sharpest decreases in footfall. Greater London (1.6%), the South West (0.4%) and Scotland (0.2%) were the only locations that saw shopper numbers rise,” the BRC said.
The BRC’s director general Stephen Robertson said: “For the quarter, the 1% drop in shopper numbers compared with this time last year is not great, but is actually an improvement on the 1.3% fall over the 12 months before that.” He noted that consumers were spreading their purchases over an increased number of less costly shopping trips than in the past. Springboard research director Diane Wehrle said the 0.6% rise in footfall at shopping centres could reflect early summer sales, and noted that the decline in overall footfall had been steadily softening during 2011. “If the trend identified this year continues into 2012 there is a real chance that footfall levels in high streets could stabilise next year,” she added.
