West Midlands empty shop rate third highest in country

NEARLY one in five shops in the West Midlands are empty according to new research which underlines a divide in the fortunes of retail centres between the South East and the Midlands and the North.

The Local Data Company (LDC)’s latest research on vacancy rates found average vacancy rates in the West Midlands of 18.3% compared to 9% in London.

Nationally one in seven shops lies empty.

LDC said 21 of the 25 worst centres for vacant shops are in the North, Midlands and Wales compared to 22 of the best performing locations being in the South.

It said small towns with less than 200 shops are in the healthiest state with a vacancy rate of 9.2%. Retail parks follow at 9.6% but have shown the most significant decline in the last six months with a rise of 0.8%.

The highest vacancy rates overall are in shopping centres where the average is 16.1%, which is higher than large cities and towns with more than 400 shops at 13.5%, and medium towns with 200 to 400 shops at 11.9%. This is at an all-time high from 15.6% in 2012.

The shopping centre vacancy rate in the West Midlands is 22.2%.

The 18.3% shop vacancy rate in the West Midlands is a slight improvement on last year’s 18.5% figure. But only the North East and North West have a higher percentage of empty shops than this region.

The worst performing town locally is Walsall where 28.6% of shops lie vacant.