Retail sector closures fall to lowest level in five years
Thu, 02 Mar 2023 | BUSINESS NEWS
New research from PwC and Local Data Company has revealed that retail store closures across Great Britain and Northern Ireland fell to their lowest levels in five years last year, with the rate of closures at its slowest since 2014.
In Great Britain, 11,530 chain outlets (businesses with five stores or more) exited high streets, retail parks and shopping centres in Great Britain. This represented a significant fall from the 17,219 exits seen during 2021.
This equated to 32 closures were day, compared to a rate of nearly 50 closures a day seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, new store openings hit 7,903 during 2022, at a rate of 22 per day, the highest figure since prior to the pandemic in 2019.
Reflecting long-standing trends within retail, retail parks were the most resilient (-0.3 per cent rate of closure) along with shopping centres (-1.6 per cent), compared to high streets (-2.6 per cent) which continue to suffer the most from the ongoing impact of the pandemic and the broader shift to e-commerce and hybrid retail. However, net closure rates still showed significant improvement across all outlet types, including high streets.
Cara Haffey, PwC Northern Ireland partner and private business leader, commented: "It's great to see positive news for retailers across the UK and we've also seen encouraging post pandemic retail recovery in Northern Ireland.”
"There's been continued investment in the high street locally with big name brands choosing to open first time outlets here. There's also been a rise in out of town retail parks across NI.”
“So from household fashion and beauty brands entering the market to empty units being taken over by new leisure offerings, we're seeing evidence that consumers want to spend in the post pandemic climate."
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