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Almost twice as many shops disappeared from UK high streets in the first half of 2020 than last year as a whole as the Covid-19 lockdowns hammered retail businesses.
A total of 11,120 chain store outlets closed between January and June, while 5,119 opened. The 6,001 net store closures was a record high, compared with 3,509 in the same period last year, in another blow to the UK’s struggling retail sector.
Analysts predict there will be many more closures to come as the data does not include outlets which were still temporarily closed under lockdown rules when analysts visited and which might end up permanently shuttered.
The figures, published by the Local Data Company and advisory firm PwC, show that more than 60 stores closed per day while 28 opened, in research that covered UK high streets, shopping centres and retail parks.
York was the worst affected, with 55 net shop closures in the first six months of the year, followed by Durham with 43 and Corby with 26.
The shop closure data reflects a crisis on the high street that has cost thousands of jobs as chains, led by already struggling fashion, mobile phone and betting shops, closed their doors. During the period, Carphone Warehouse closed all 531 standalone branches while fashion chains including Oasis, Warehouse and Cath Kidston all closed down. Major names including Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and House of Fraseralso closed stores.
Lucy Stainton, head of retail and strategic partnerships at the Local Data Company, said: “The results from the first half of 2020 are a stark reminder of the challenges faced by retailers in the first six months of the year, which included a national lockdown.”
She feared that this was the tip of the iceberg, with 22% of chain stores still closed temporarily
“With each week that passes since retail and hospitality businesses were given the green light to reopen, the likelihood of these occupiers ever trading again in those units reduces.”
She added that local lockdowns and other restrictions such as the 10pm curfew would continue to have “a devastating impact” on the sector with more closures likely after the key festive trading season ends.
The reports says: “Unless further government stimulus is announced, we’re guaranteed to see further closures” as a result of factors such as: further movement restrictions; the unwinding of the furlough scheme this month; and the end of business rates relief and VAT reductions for the hospitality sector in March.
The data does not cover independent stores which researchers said were likely to have seen a resurgence as more people worked from home and shopped locally during the pandemic. The report found that among the chains, takeaways and coffee shops were among the fastest-growing types of high street outlet.
In regional terms, Greater London saw the highest total number of net closures – 1,008 – followed by the south-east of England and the north-west. But Yorkshire and the Humber recorded the biggest loss of chain stores in percentage terms, with a net 3.4% of outlets disappearing compared with 2.2% in the east of England – the best performing region.
Shopping centres were the worst-affected location.
Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC, said the pandemic had accelerated existing changes in shopping behaviour as it had “forced experimentation” during the lockdown.
“We all knew that consumers were shifting to shopping online or changing their priorities in terms of the things they buy, but what Covid-19 has done is create a step change in these underlying trends to where they have now become the new normal.
“We all still want and need to physically visit shops and leisure operators, it’s likely then that whatever happens retail will come out of this smaller but stronger,” she said.
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