Location, Location, Location
There have been few major retail developments in the UK over the last two years and as such high streets have had to be developed around their existing infrastructure. Retailers have no choice but to work with the existing stock on the high street, and with an almost continual supply of new vacant units as the succession of retailers going into administration continues, some high streets are faring better than others.
There is a growing concern that regional disparities are increasing as different areas and towns throughout the country deal with the challenging economic times with varying degrees success.
These regional disparities are noted in Callcredits Retail League Tables, which rank retail centres in terms of revenue, numbers of premium retailers, and numbers of value retailers.
It is widely accepted that London is cemented at the top of the table as a retail destination. The North-West as a region shows varying results. The major cities have, as a minimum held their position within a national context, however it’s the smaller retail centres of the northwest which perhaps show cause for concern.
In the last year Manchester has leapfrogged Glasgow to become the largest retail centre outside of London, and with a total of 96 also heads up the table for numbers of premium retailers. Liverpool ranks as the seventh largest retail centre in the UK and boasts 53 premium retailers within the city.
On the counter side, Blackpool ranks second in terms of value retailers, Preston tenth and Birkenhead seventeenth, but perhaps more revealing is that these towns show 22.2%, 15.8% and 24.7% levels of saturation of value retailers respectively.
Although figures such as these need to be taken with a pinch of salt, they do illustrate that retail centres appear to be developing exponentially in terms of the type of retailers that they attract.
Retailers need to identify where their target customers shop, and so are drawn to retail centres where similar users are already trading. In the current market retailers are risk averse and less willing to break the trend on the high street, and consequently choosing the right location is more important than ever to ensure their success.
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David Legat
DD: 0151 242 3091
E: david.legat@masonowen.com