Birmingham’s retail revolution sees West Midlands the area to beat for vacancy rates
BIRMINGHAM’S unprecedented expansion of its retail facilities has had a dramatic effect on shop vacancy rates in the West Midlands, new figures have shown.
The past month has seen the opening of the city’s new John Lewis department store and the accompanying Grand Central scheme, the £150m Resorts Word hotel, casino, conference centre, cinema and outlet mall, the new-look Harvey Nichols and the revamped Mailbox, and the largest M&S store outside London at Longbridge.
Latest figures from the Local Data Company show the region is leading the rest of the UK in reducing its shop vacancy rates.
The region saw the biggest fall (-0.2%) in vacancy rates during October, outstripping Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West and Wales – the only other regions in the UK to see a fall.
The LDC said the West Midlands also led the way in terms of shopping centre vacancy rates.
Nationally, the rate dropped by 0.2% to 14.3% in October when compared against the previous month.
However, in the West Midlands the figure was 0.6%, placing it ahead of rivals in the East Midlands (-0.5%) and North East (-0.5%) to become the best performer in the UK.
The picture also looks rosy for the region’s retail parks.
The LDC figures show that retail parks have seen a considerable drop (-2.0%) in their vacant units compared with last year (8.2% vs. 6.2%), and the best performing region in the UK was the West Midlands, which saw its retail park vacancy rate drop from 9.9% last year to 6.6% (-3.5%).
Matthew Hopkinson, director at The Local Data Company, said: “Positive news and stability is what we are seeing in the national vacancy rate. What is promising is seeing some of the regions with improved rates.
“Shopping centres have also shown a notable improvement which is a reflection of increased investment overall and their diversification into food & beverage as well as entertainment.”
He said the expansion of facilities in the regions was also having a detrimental effect on what was happening in the capital.
“One area to watch is Greater London, whose vacancy rate increased which is likely to continue due to increased competition between locations as a result of improved travel infrastructure,” he added.
