Shop vacancies fall again

The number of empty shops on Britain’s high streets has dropped, according to the latest research from the Local Data Company.

Shop vacancy marginally decreased by 0.1% in November 2012, the second monthly reduction.

The latest vacancy barometer from LDC also showed the number of independent shops, as a percentage of the total, remained the same.

Matthew Hopkinson, director at the Local Data Company commented: “This is further encouraging news in terms of the vacancy rate showing a second month of improvement. However, two key factors are likely to be driving this, one is the take up of units prior to the Christmas trading period and secondly, vacant shops changing use from shops to leisure (food & beverage) uses and this be excluded from the shop vacancy rate.

“2013 will be another very challenging year for the high street with online sales becoming even more significant with the rise of tablet and mobile users leading the charge. This will lead to further consolidation (reduction) in retailer shop networks. Whilst December’s quarter rent day is a big milestone I believe that Q1 2013 will be the period to watch as retailers emerge from the busiest trading period.”

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