Region’s high streets struggle as gap between closures and openings widens

Neil McTiffin

The net reduction in high street stores across Britain remains at record levels, according to research compiled for PwC by the Local Data Company (LDC).

High street retailers continue to be affected by growth in online shopping, the shift to in-home leisure and heightened restructuring activity.

Key towns across the North West all recorded more closures than openings in the first half of 2019, the research shows.

The PwC/LDC analysis of multiple retailers in the top 500 town centres across Great Britain covered 67,586 outlets run by retailers operating more than five outlets across the country.

It found that in the first half of 2019, 98 shops opened and 173 closed across the North West, representing a 75-outlet net reduction across the region.

An increase of almost 30% compared with the same period last year which saw a net reduction of 58 stores.

Not one town centre across the North West saw a positive net change in the first half of the year with only Hale, Lythan St Annes, Nantwich Road (Crewe) and Leigh experiencing no change at all in the net number of stores.

The North West towns with the highest net reduction in the period were Blackpool, Stockport, Kendal, Bolton, Liverpool and Manchester.

Blackpool suffered the biggest percentage fall (4.1%) in net closures, with three openings against 11 closures.

It was followed by Stockport (3.8%), Kendal (3.7%), Bolton (3.5%), Liverpool (1.1%) and Manchester (0.6%).

However, there was some positive growth across the regions’ high streets, with fashion shops, confectioners and supermarkets among the fastest growing in the first half of the year.

The research also revealed that across multiple retailers in the 29 town centres analysed across the North West public houses, men’s clothes shops, bakers and games shops experienced the highest net fall in the number of outlets.

Neil McTiffin, PwC’s North West retail leader, said: “Openings across the region quite simply aren’t replacing closures at a fast-enough rate, meaning that the sectors where consumers are comfortable with the price transparency and reliability of delivery options offered by digital players have felt the impact of the rise of online shopping the most.

“The reality for many of us is that we now prefer to shop online and increasingly eat, drink and entertain at home. As a result the high street is having to adapt to an overcapacity in retail and leisure space resulting from these channel shifts.

“The key for retailers and leisure operators across the North West is to continue looking at their businesses – including their store portfolios – to make sure they have a strong brand, product offering and essentially a clear proposition.”

Across Great Britain. a record net 1,234 stores disappeared from th UK’s top 500 high streets.

In total, 1,634 shops opened, compared with 2,868 closures.

The shortfall between openings and closures is the highest level since the LDC analysis began, as withdrawals from the high street and retailers restructuring their portfolios continued apace into the first six months of 2019.

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