Member Article

Shop vacancy rate stablizes

Town centre vacancy rates in Great Britain have stabilized at 14.6%, after experiencing rises in from January to February.

The Local Data Company’s monthly barometer of shop vacancies remained unchanged as data from across 650 of the top town centres was collected.

Each premise was visited and its occupancy status recorded as occupied, vacant or demolished.

Matthew Hopkinson, director at the Local Data Company commented: “March’s figure is encouraging in that it did not rise but the fact that it did not drop as it did for the same month in 2011 shows that the number is reflecting structural change and not ‘seasonal’ factors.

“Retailers continue to suffer from a lack of consumer spend and multiple retailers are reducing their store portfolios.

“Game’s administration in March and more recently Aquascutum’s show the extremes in the impacts happening.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .