May 17, 2017
Retail vacancy stays flat in April as number of independents rise and multiples plunge
May 17, 2017
More shops opened than closed in April across Britain, with independent stores leading the growth and recording an eighth straight month of net growth in numbers, while multiples plunged by 200, according to new data from LDC.
While shop numbers have increased in the past seven months, activity levels have slowed, dropping back to mid-2016 figures, shows LDC’s monthly tracker. This means that the improvement seen in vacancy since 2012 could come to a halt and even begin to worsen as the retail economy slows.
"It takes some time for day-to-day consumer spending to affect shop numbers and the figures for cash spent within retail have been quite strong. But official statistics for sales volumes suggest that the balance between inflation and earnings growth may cause clouds to appear on the horizon and thus, further stress for retailers and leisure operators where marginal businesses could be forced to close and thus drive up the vacancy rates," said LDC director Matthew Hopkinson.
Service and leisure continue to drive growth, while convenience stores are experiencing sporadic periods of growth. Meanwhile, supermarkets are beginning to fall in number.
The retail vacancy rate stood at 12% - the lowest level since 2012, but the leisure vacancy rate showed a slight increase to 8.1%. The all vacancy rate, which derives from both the retail vacancy and leisure vacancy indices also stood pinned at 10.9%.
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