Retail outlet numbers decline as the gap widens between best and worst high streets
The British Retail Consortium’s latest survey of retail employment in the UK together with Bond Pearce shows that the number of retail premises in the UK has fallen for the first time since the record began in 2008. The 0.5% decline in the number of shops compared with the previous year shows that the worst-hit shops have been closing as customers have held back on spending, the BRC says.
Supermarkets, meanwhile, are continuing to open smaller-format shops, which the BRC says is masking a possibly much sharper decline in other shop numbers. “Without them, shop numbers would have fallen further,” it added.
The news was not all gloomy for the sector, however – expectations for the coming quarter have improved, with only 4% of retailers surveyed saying that they would be cutting jobs, compared with 25% the previous year. Retail employment – effectively the number of hours worked – rose in the second quarter of 2012 by 1.8% year-on-year, driven entirely by those food retailers.
Christina Tolvas-Vincent, head of retail employment at Bond Pearce, said that despite the positive news on employment in the sector, serious concerns remained. “With 83% planning to keep staffing levels unchanged, compared with just 58% last year, it looks like retailers are hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel. It has also been a summer of ups and downs so far with the Jubilee celebrations, the record amount of wet weather and now the build-up to the Olympics all having an impact on the industry. But the reality of the situation may be clouded as a result. It will be very interesting to see what the next quarter brings,” she added.
Meanwhile, CACI’s Retail Dimensions map of the UK has shown the widening gap between the best and worst high streets and retail centres. The Times noted that more than two thirds of the 4,000 destinations mapped by CACI are in areas that the firm forecasts will continue to decline in the long term, for all retail except convenience shopping and price-focused retail.
The top 3% of locations account for a quarter of all spending on non-essential items, the survey found. The survey also found that retailers are relying on lease expiries to cut their rent bills. CACI ranked the locations in the map from A to E depending on factors such as the local economy, future developments and demographics. It found that for some retailers, the majority of stores are in areas ranked below C – its threshold for long-term viability. These included Carpetright, with more than two thirds of outlets in weaker areas; Thorntons, with 49% of shops in areas ranked D or E; and 51% of Argos shops in poorly performing areas.
