According to PwC’s report, with net closures at their lowest since 2017, openings improving, stabilisation across the board and strong performance for retail parks, there are plenty of positives for retailers and leisure operators. With few regional variances, it’s also encouraging to see nowhere being left behind. But there also remains slight challenges for some. High streets and shopping centres have not improved net closure rates since last year, the online services move continues to disproportionately affect high streets, and footfall remains lower than pre-pandemic. We explore these findings in more detail and look at what they mean for retailers, leisure and service operators and locations across GB.
In the first six months of this year, a total of 6,512 shops belonging to multiples and chains (those with five or more outlets) exited UK high streets, shopping centres and retail parks. Equivalent to 36 closures per day, it’s a slight increase compared with H1 last year but significantly lower than the two years prior.
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