The BBC is reporting this morning, that Covid lockdowns and trading restrictions have changed the face of UK high streets. There were nearly 10,000 fewer retail outlets in March of this year, compared with March 2020.
According to the BBC news website:
Department stores and banks markedly fell in number, data from Ordnance Survey shows, as shoppers switched to online stores.
But beauty salons and tattoo parlours prospered, along with places to eat and drink – despite social distancing.
Overall, there were 9,300 fewer retail outlets in March 2022 than March 2020.
The findings illustrate the changing face of the British High Street from a place to buy things to a place to do stuff – like get your nails done and meet friends for a coffee or a cocktail.
The figures are revealed by BBC analysis of 1.5 million records contained in the Ordnance Survey’s “Points of Interest” mapping data, a comprehensive quarterly survey of businesses, facilities and services operating in England, Scotland and Wales.
Debenhams and Beales were among the landmark High Street retailers to close their doors during the pandemic, contributing to a 13.4% drop in department stores across Great Britain. Two years on from the first lockdown in 2020, there were 328 fewer such stores.
The number of clothes shops operating in Britain is down 4,300, a fall of 8.5%. The collapse of the Arcadia retail empire in 2020 saw Burtons, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Topshop and Miss Selfridge all disappear from our shopping streets.
More than 800 High Street banks and building societies closed their doors during the pandemic (-8.1%) along with the loss of more than 6,000 cash machines (-13.2%).
The changes suggest the pandemic accelerated the move away from physical cash-based retail to card-based online shopping.
