Changing Faces..

Some statistics from the BBC to chew over- on the number of vacant stores in the UK and the nature of the remaining retail outlets, painting a fascinating picture of how both the downturn, and our evolving consumer habits, are changing the face of your local High Street.

So how accurately do you think this reflects your local High Street? Is it awash with supermarkets, discount stores, hairdressers and charity stores? I'd say this rather succinctly sums up those that I am familiar with.

Overall, shop vacancies are up from 10.5% to 14% this year report retail analyst Local Data Company, as the impact of the economic downturn continues to be felt,  but the rate of emptying stores is thankfully slowing down. A town I know well- Altrincham in Cheshire is, it transpires, the very worst individually hit town in the country- with 29.6% of shops empty. But if you know the area I'm sure you didn't need to be told this- the considerable decline of this formerly smart high street was obvious.

Somewhat unsurprisingly  off-licenses, and to a lesser degree travel agents have been particularly badly hit through the U.K.- well we all book our holidays online these days, and our booze from Tescos, so inevitable they are struggling.

The recession has however also contributed to the success of discount retailers such as Poundland, and of course the charity shops, who are able to operate profitably in tertiary sites where retailers might fear to tread, due to their low operating costs (it's easier when you have charitable status and don't have to pay your staff!).

The other interesting observation is that the nature of purpose of your High Street seems to be changing. It used to be the hub of the town, catering for your every purchasing need as you went about your week. Now we have huge supermarkets, shopping centres, and of course the internet to fulfil these requirements, cheaply and efficently. So the High Street becomes more of a hobby- a way to pass the time, providing those services that you simply cannot get online- as the butcher, baker and candlestick maker are replaced by the hairdresser, the coffee shop, and a Subway.

So what can we do? Well change is inevitable of course, but if you are lucky enough to still have a broad range of retail outlets on your high street, you simply must support them. The bookshop may be more expensive than Amazon, the wineshop might not do two for £10 like in Sainsburys, and the boutique might have a much narrower range than Topshop- but I tell you what- you'll miss them when they're gone.