Region’s high streets struggle as store closures gather pace
High streets across the West Midlands have continued to be hit by shops shutting, with 144 more retail outlets closed than opened in 2017.
The decline was much steeper than the previous year when the region had a net loss of 60 stores.
The research for PwC by the Local Data Company (LDC) tracked 5124 outlets in the West Midlands operated by multiple retailers in 32 town centres across the region.
In the West Midlands 482 shops closed on high streets, retail parks and shopping centres in the year but only 338 shops opened.
Andy Lyon, leader of PwC’s retail and consumer practice in the Midlands said: “2017 has proved to be one of the toughest trading periods West Midlands retailers have experienced in years – borne out by a 9.1% rise in store closures with high street names such as Twenty One going into liquidation and others such as Maplin and Toys R Us facing the same fate.
“We saw volatility from month to month, and across different sectors as wage growth failed to keep up with inflation – forcing many shoppers to think more carefully about their spending habits.”
Hereford fared the worst in the West Midlands with just six openings but 20 closures. Birmingham saw a net decline of nine stores, despite 70 openings. Walsall was the only area to experience a net growth, adding two stores overall.
The data also show that the second half of 2017 saw substantially more closures and fewer openings than the first six months of the year, reflecting a tough trading environment including a slowdown in consumer spending, rising staff and business rates costs.
Nationally, there was a net loss of 1,772 stores from Great Britain’s town centres in 2017, resulting from 4,083 openings but 5,855 closures.
Lucy Stainton, retail specialist at The Local Data Company, said “there continues to be a vast amount of churn across the physical landscape”.
She added: “There is of course no doubting that we are experiencing a period of great change in retail, and the question around the relevance and role of stores is still very much on the industry agenda.”
