retail report
Store closures slowed in 2021, says PwC report
This had previously been offset by the rapid rollout of leisure operators, such as coffee shops, food-to-go and restaurants. However, such openings have slowed down rapidly since the mid 2010s.
In better news, the number of closures is now expected to slow down through 2022. The last two years have seen a shake out of some large fashion and department store chains who were on the brink of collapse. With these stores now closed, future store closures should begin to level off. Moreover, bigger chain retailers are more likely to be proactively negotiating with landlords, so the end of the rent moratorium in March 2022 is less likely to affect them.
I
n somewhat positive news for the retail sector, store closures for chains and multiples slowed in 2021 versus the last
two years, according to a recent report from PwC. However, these numbers still saw 10,000 chain store branches disappear from Great Britain’s retail locations in 2021. In total, 7,160 shops opened, compared to 17,219 closures, a net decline of 10,059, according to PwC research compiled by the Local Data Company (LDC). Although the net change has worsened since 2020, the number of closures per day has remained stable, 47 in 2021, compared to 48 in 2020. A decline was expected with the ongoing impact of the pandemic and as large retailers, that were on the brink of closure at the end of 2020, exited
ICYMI
• Ultimate Products and its distribution partner De Boer Transport delivered 32 pallets of donated of blankets, toiletries, warm clothes and toys on behalf of the Ukrainian Centre Manchester to the Polish border. The items will be stored in Poland and distributed when required. CEO Simon Showman, meanwhile, raised a huge £40,000 to help support families fleeing war in Ukraine.
• Independent Sheffield department store Atkinsons celebrated 150 years of trading.
• Cookware manufacturer Samuel Groves featured on Great British Menu.
• ProCook ranked among the UK’s Best Workplaces for Wellbeing (2022) by Great Place to Work, the global authority on workplace culture.
• Dexam partnered with British breakfast favourite Kellogg’s to launch a new licensed range of kitchen textiles.
• Stationery and greeting card firm Rachel Ellen Designs sined an exclusive three-year agreement with Thermos UK for a FUNtainer range of children’s food storage – bottles, food flasks and lunch bags – featuring Rachel Ellen illustrations.
• Talking Tables launched an eco-friendly and plastic free Queen’s Platinum Jubilee collection of party supplies.
• Sales on the high street rebounded by 1.9% in January, according to the Office of National Statistics, as shoppers returned after the disruption of the Omicron variant. Non-food stores sales volumes rose by 3.4% with strong growth in household goods stores (7.5%) such as furniture stores and electrical goods stores and department stores (7.1%).
the market for good. Meanwhile, Government support for chain retailers was mostly phased out in July 2021 adding pressure to those retailers reliant on grants.
The number of openings has declined 26% since 2019, the last year pre-pandemic. So, although there were over 7000 new openings in 2021, many of these were the natural churn and re-siting of existing stores. Apart from takeaways, at +81, and government job centres, +33, no other category saw more than 20 net openings in 2021.
In a continuation of a long term trend, store
closures peaked in 2020 in the height of the pandemic. The rate of closures has been growing since the mid 2010s, as more retail and service categories have shifted online.
Location matters above all else Consumer behaviour is continuing to drive the most change and the choice of shopping location is impacting the number of closures. Retail parks and standalone sites are more insulated from closures. In 2021, retail parks saw the smallest net change of any location (593), compared to high streets (4,287) and shopping centres (1,690). In percentage terms retail parks saw net closures of -4% compared to high streets at -5% and shopping centres at -7%. Fast becoming a trend, retail parks have consistently outperformed shopping centres and high streets for the past 6 years. (See Table 2). In the same time, shopping centres have gone from the second best performing locations, in 2015, to the worst performing locations in 2020 and 2021. Undeniably, Covid exacerbated the popularity
of retail parks but even since restrictions lifted, footfall recovery has been much faster in out
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