Store closures outpacing openings, says PwC high street report

The gap between store openings and closures has widened in towns across the North West, according to new research today.

A combination of the growth in online shopping, shift to in-home leisure, heightened restructuring activity and continued digitisation of services has seen the half-year net reduction in stores on Britain’s high streets reach record levels.

New research by PwC and the Local Data Company (LDC) covering multiples retailers in the top 500 town centres across Great Britain covered 66,961 outlets run by retailers operating more than five outlets across the country.

It found that in the first half of 2018, 134 shops opened and 192 closed across the North West, representing a 58 outlet net reduction.

This is a significant increase from the same period in 2017, where volumes were higher and saw 174 outlets open and 184 close with a net reduction of only 10 shops.

Only two town centres in the North West saw a positive net change in the first half of the year – Macclesfield and Lancaster.

The North West towns with the highest net reduction in H1 2018 were: Blackpool, Carlisle, Leigh, Chester, Liverpool and Bolton.

There was, however, some positive growth news across the region’s high streets, with barbers, beauty salons, health clubs and tattoo outlets among the fastest growing in the first half of the year.

The data also revealed that across multiple retailers in the 29 town centres analysed across the North West, estate agents, dentists, cosmetic surgery, photographers and wedding companies experienced the largest net fall in the number of outlets.

Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC, said: “Our latest research highlights the challenges facing the retail and leisure sectors on Britain’s high streets.

“The continued rate of store closures reflects the new reality that many of us prefer to shop online and increasingly eat, drink and entertain at home.

“The high street is adapting to an overcapacity in retail and leisure space resulting from these channel shifts.

“Openings simply aren’t replacing the closures at a fast enough rate.

“Specifically, the openings across ‘experiential’ chains, such as ice cream parlours, beauty salons and vape shops, haven’t been enough to offset closures in the more traditional categories.”

She added: “Looking ahead, the turmoil facing the sector is unlikely to abate.

“Store closures in H2, due to administrations and CVAs, will further intensify the situation.

“The British high street is in urgent need of new ways of thinking and new forms of retail.

“Encouraging this should be a priority, and it remains to be seen if recent packages of support for the high street and reductions in business rates for smaller retailers will be sufficient to stimulate this.”

Across the UK, a net 1,123 stores disappeared from Great Britain’s top 500 high streets in the first half of the year, as only 1,569 shops opened, compared with 2,692 closures, the analysis found.