Since the start of 2016, approximately 8.5m sq ft of space has been either closed or put at risk of closure due to company administrations – with only 43% of that vacated space being re-let to new tenants, according to EG data.
New occupiers in these units have taken 3.4m sq ft across 133 deals since the start of last year.
When we break this down, we find that a lower percentage of those stores in out of town areas have been let compared with those in town centre locations, at 39% and 44% respectively. On a company basis we found that 48% of all of BHS has not been re-let, neither has 30% of Austin Reed’s and 21% of Blue Inc stores.
When looking at what sectors are driving that leasing activity, fashion occupiers such as Primark and Next are most active, targeting those larger former BHS units who have an average size of 40,000 sq ft, and also value supermarkets continuing their growth in central retail locations.
The South East accounts for 1.9m sq ft (or 56% of initial space) lost, almost double the amount of its nearest competitor the North West with 960,000 sq ft.
More than 84% of all space is coming in town centre locations and Northern Ireland and Yorkshire lead the way in terms of regions with the highest percentage of out of town space.
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