More than 50 former BHS stores remain vacant, three years after the retailer pulled down the shutters.
Research from Colliers International showed that 53 stores – some 2.5m sq ft of retail space – remains vacant. This represents 32% of the chain’s original 163-store portfolio.
Colliers noted that some of the ex-BHS stores that are still vacant are heading towards a new future, but not as shops. At the former BHS in Stratford-upon-Avon, for example, the site has been bought and an operator has been found for a new 170-bedroom hotel. It will also host a new restaurant, with no on-site retail.
It is also worth noting there is some improvement from findings in the previous year, when the Local Data Company estimated that 52% of sites (84) were unoccupied two years after the chain closed its last store.
Overall, Colliers found that around 11% of the UK’s high street and neighbourhood retail stock is vacant, and 33% of this (circa 30m sq ft) has been vacant for two or more years.
‘We need to be realistic’
Dan Simms, co-head of retail at Colliers, said: “It may be controversial, but we need to be realistic – this is not sustainable, for landlords or local communities.
“Space that has been empty for a period of time that is this prolonged will never, in all likelihood, have a retail use again.”
Colliers predicted that one in three retail spaces which have been vacant for two or more years will cease to have a retail-related purpose in the future.
Simms said: “Taking this into consideration and looking hard at the current state of the UK’s retail landscape, we believe that this trend will continue. The dilemma is how to reverse its crippling effects and ensure this space doesn’t stay vacant. The ‘obsolete core’ must be tackled.
“What is encouraging is that the retail property market is already well under way in its response to this and there are repurposing projects taking place across the UK to help reduce, convert and, in some cases, remove this empty space entirely.”
Matthew Thompson, head of retail strategy at Colliers, added: “The retail industry employs three million people – 10% of the population – and generates 5% of the country’s GDP, with almost £400bn of sales each year. Its not enough to leave this space vacant with no way forward.
“We need to take a much broader approach to this problem to find a solution in which vacant space can be reimagined to realise new value, deliver interesting uses and reduce the mountain of empty space.”
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