This week’s Estates Gazette Big Question asks whether competition from online retailers will ultimately be a good thing for the future of the UK high street.
At the launch of two Kindles this week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos insisted that the e-tailing revolution he helped to define would not herald the death of the high street.
Bezos said high street shops would evolve and “figure out a new path”, and that competition would make retailers better.
We asked our panel of property professionals what they thought.
First and foremost, they heartily disagreed with Bezos, with just under 80% saying that increased competition from online was unlikely to help the UK’s high streets.
However, just over 75% agreed that some failing high streets should be allowed to die out. “This is survival of the fittest,” said one panellist. “Eventually, retailers will evolve but, in the meantime, it will be painful.”
No one believed that retailers had adapted to change, with 62% saying that this process was a long way off as the high street revolution remained “in its infancy”.
But the overarching opinion was that, no matter how far along the high street is on the long road to change, the change itself was crucial. “We need to think seriously about redefining the term high street,” said Stephen Hillier, managing director of Hillier Associates. “I believe the golden age of retail is over and we need to keep the high streets as vibrant community hubs. The more vibrant and diverse the services and activities available, the more robust they will become.”
