Nearly 90% of former Debenhams stores remain empty a year after the collapse of the department store chain.
The former anchor stores are among nearly 8,000 retail outlets left empty last year, according to the Local Data Company. The good news is that this was down from 11,319 net closures in 2020, as fewer businesses fell into administration and more than 43,000 new businesses opened, an increase of more than 10%.
Lucy Stainton, commercial director at LDC, said department stores were a particular problem, with only 12% of recently vacated sites now reoccupied, while just over a fifth of former BHS outlets remained empty five years after the chain collapsed, partly as a result of the costs of fitting out and maintaining such large sites.
She said landlords and councils would have to think beyond retail to fill the space as there was a “knock-on impact” on the attractiveness of a town or shopping centre when key sites remained vacant.
Projects under way include the transformation of the former Debenhams in Gloucester into a student campus, while Manchester’s Kendals building, home to House of Fraser, is to be converted into offices.
