North West sees biggest net fall in number of stores in five years

Retail store closures continued across the North West’s high streets in 2018 as closures continued to outstrip the number of store openings, according to PwC research compiled by the Local Data Company.

This was due to consumers responding to the changing retail climate and the continued economic uncertainty.

The PwC/LDC analysis of the 66,463 outlets across Great Britain, run by retailers operating more than five outlets, found that the overall volume of activity (number of openings minus closures) fell from 11,695 in 2013 to 9,225 in 2018.

The analysis of the top 500 town centres in Great Britain found that in 2018, 311 shops opened and 555 closed across the North West.

This equates to a net decrease of 244 shops, which represents the largest net fall in the number of stores in a single year since 2013.

The situation will not have been helped by the announcement yesterday (April 9) that high street retail group Debenhams had gone into administration and was pressing ahead with a planned store closure programme to reduce costs.

The towns most affected by the continuing decline of the North West’s high streets were Crewe, Leigh, Accrington, Ashton-Under-Lyne, Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool, with Manchester and Liverpool seeing largest numerical falls, but also the highest openings across the region.

Only one town centre across the region saw any positive gains, which was Lancaster, followed by Macclesfield and Salford who both saw no change in the number of stores.

There was, however, some growth on the region’s high streets, with convenience stores, ice cream parlours, pawnbrokers, supermarkets and take away food shops among those that did see some growth in 2018.

The data also reveals that of those multiple retailers in the 29 town centres analysed across the North West, banks/other financial institutions, discount stores, computer game shops, recruitment agencies, charity shops and pubs were among the hardest hit in 2018.

Neil McTiffin, PwC’s North West retail leader, said: “2018 was another turbulent year for the regions retailers.

“Coupled with the growth in online and high occupancy costs impacted by business rates, these contributory factors collectively led to more store closures across the North West’s high streets with the highest net fall in the number of stores seen since 2013.

“Whilst Manchester and Liverpool saw the largest numerical falls 33 (3.9%) and 21 (3.2%), the worst affected locations were Crewe which saw a net fall of 17 (11%), Leigh 12 (10.6%) and Accrington 11 (10.6%).

“These closures were most marked in categories affected by online – fashion and computer game stores, recruitment agencies and charity shops combined with an increasing consumer preference for in-home leisure (pubs).

“High street banks and discount stores were the hardest hit across the region, experiencing the largest number of closures.”

He added: “There is still, undoubtedly, an important role for the high street to play, and it’s vital that if high street retailers hope to claw back market share, not only do they need to look for new ways of achieving growth and make smart changes to ensure they are not left behind, there is also a need for the Government to reconsider how business rates impact retailers.”

Across the UK, a record net 2,481 stores have disappeared from Great Britain’s top 500 high streets in the full year as only 3,372 shops opened, compared with 5,833 closures (2017 net loss: -1,772 stores).