Are high streets facing last rites? (From The Argus)
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Are high streets facing last rites?
10:00am Saturday 11th February 2012 in Comment and Analysis By Dan Thompson
If you think Sussex high streets are looking bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
As well as seasonal shops packing up for another year, we’ve seen stores that should have done well over Christmas also closing down, with both Past Times and Hawkin’s Bazaar shutting stores across the county.
The latest report from The Local Data Company says national vacancy rates have passed 14% and are set to climb.
Research by Jones Lang LaSalle suggests that even more shops will leave town centres as 50% of shop leases are up for renewal in the next few years.
The reasons are far deeper than the usual complaint that ‘parking’s expensive’.
We’ve changed the way we shop and the high street has been left behind.
If parking’s a worry, out of town stores with big, free car parks are perfect.
Shopping centres can attract families for a day out, with everything in one warm, clean, dry place. Supermarkets put everything in one place and use their buying power to give big discounts.
And of course, the internet can carry far more stock than a high street store – and save you the VAT.
In many towns, shops are not even up to the job. In recent weeks, I’ve tried to buy a set of steps for the kitchen, a pair of loudspeakers for my stereo and some Cherry Red polish for my boots in Worthing town centre.
I could not find any of them.
None of the problems are new. The experts have been talking about the death of town centres since the late 1950s.
But our town centres are tough, robust and resilient. They’ve already been through change, from medieval markets, to the Victorian street with a clutter of small, locally-owned shops, through the convenience of the 1930s corner store to a wave of pedestrianisation after the Second World War.
The Pop Up People report, published by the Empty Shops Network and supported by Arts Council England, attempts to show what’s next.
A series of workshops brought together all sorts of people who are finding new uses for the old buildings in our town centres, from architects and artists, circus ringmasters and council officers, to planners and pop up shopkeepers. While the ways of bringing life to empty shops were diverse, there were strong common themes.
Whether it was a music workshop in Southampton, vintage clothing pop-up shop in Margate or a whole festival in Bedford, all the projects were being led by inspirational, energetic, entrepreneurial people with a passion for the place where they live.
The success stories weren’t local councils with big budgets; they were local people with big ideas; pop up people.
They’ve all noticed that while town centres used to be used for a wide range of activity, from meetings to markets, and performance to protest, they’re now privately managed and focused almost exclusively on one function, retail.
Underlying all the practical suggestions about tweaks to planning regulations and relaxation of business rates, is one simple idea; allow innovation, invention and experimentation. It’s time to test new ideas and explore fresh ways of doing things.
It might be that hybrid retail, the blending of businesses in one premises, are the answer. That’s what Next is trying in its flagship Holmbush store, which includes a garden centre, DIY store, furniture shop and cafe alongside the usual Next clothing.
Or it might be using high street stores as showcases for online shopping that works.
Argos and eBay have tested QR codes which can be scanned on mobile phones in pop up shops, and Amazon are reported to be planning a move from just clicks to bricks and mortar.
Pop up people are at the front, showing new ways to use old buildings, and we need to make it easy for them if our town centres are going to be resuscitated. Otherwise, it’s time for the town centre’s last rites.
Dan Thompson’s website is www.artistsandmakers.com He can be contacted on 07859 228347 or by email: dan@artistsandmakers.com
Brightonlad says...
7:04pm Thu 23 Feb 12