High street news and archive

The Bangladesh safety accord expires in May. What next?

Bangladesh in 2021 remains a garment manufacturing hub for the world’s leading high street and mid-market brands. It is also a region with a well-documented history of factory incidents and unsafe workplaces for its garment workers. After the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013, which killed over 1,100 workers, the Accord on Fire and Building...

Retail

Legal and General re-imagining retail with rent-free UK high streets

Institutional investor Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) Real Assets has launched a new blueprint for the future of the high street, which includes rent-free shops, as part of its strategy to “re-invent and re-position” retail. The project kick-started with what it is calling a “curated shopping street,” called ‘Kingland’ in Poole,...

Retail

UK Government urged to adopt Shop Out to Help Out scheme to save high street

Last August the UK government launched the initiative Eat Out to Help Out Scheme in a bid drive traffic to cafes and restaurants during local lockdown. This year campaigners are calling for a similar proposal to save the ailing high street, with a scheme called Shop Out to Help Out. The campaign group Save The Street, backed by notable industry...

Retail

Retail sales in the UK and Germany give an early read of the European economy

The second quarter of 2021 should have been a time for economies reopening, and all eyes are on the UK and Germany to give an indication of consumer sentiment and retail sales. The UK and Germany Spend Insight Report by Fable Data shows UK spending the week of 15 March was up 1 percent on 2020 and down 1 percent YoY on a rolling 28 day basis....

Culture

London's arts and culture sector hit hardest by Covid-19

As the Chinese New Year holiday sweeps Asia this week, the key travel and shopping celebration many retailers have come to see as a sales opportunity, will bypass the UK. London, which in 2019 was voted one of the world’s top shopping destinations, remains closed to most international visitors. It comes as no surpise that new research published...

Retail

400,000 jobs could be lost from English high streets post-Covid

Some 400,000 jobs could be lost across England’s high streets post-Covid as an acceleration of online shopping and new work-from-home habits are expected to drive down footfall, new research suggests. According to a report by KPMG, a drop in commuter flow in England could range from over a tenth to under a third of commuter footfall seen...

BusinessFeatured

Covid 2021: Over 250,000 UK small businesses set to close

Over 250,000 small businesses across the UK are set to fold in 2021 according to findings by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). Its latest index shows confidence at its second lowest ebb in the ten year history of its report. The figures echo research by McKinsey and Company, which said in September the fashion industry’s economic profit...

RetailFeatured

UK shop vacancies continue to rise amid Covid-19 uncertainty

The UK’s shop vacancy rate rose to 13.2 percent in Q3 from 12.4 percent in Q2 amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of increasing rates. That increase was experienced across all locations, with shopping centres hit hardest, increasing to 16.3 percent from 14.3 percent in the previous quarter, according to the...

Business

Post Offices deliver 1.1 billion pounds in additional revenue to ailing high streets

Post Offices across the UK are helping to generate 1.1 billion pounds in additional revenue for the country’s struggling high streets, new research reveals. According to the study by The Public First research, commissioned by the Post Office, 33 percent of people say they had popped into a shop, café, pub or restaurant during their last visit to...

Retail

Primark sales to surpass 2 billion pounds after lockdown surge

At the start of the pandemic Primark was one of the first retailers to halt orders and cut production when it was forced to close its 189 UK stores back in March. Despite the three-month lockdown, Primark saw sales surge in the third quarter when its stores reopened and customers sought out value retailers. Parent company ABF said Primark was on...

RetailFeatured

Is sustainability the real driver of H&M's new re-sale platform at Cos?

It is in the interest of all businesses that produce products to sell as much of that product as possible. This is the bottom line. H&M Group’s announcement that its brand Cos will launch a re-sale platform called Resell - where customers can buy and sell pre-owned Cos items - is being positioned as a sustainable and renewable retail solution,...

Business

UK falls into recession for first time in 11 years

The UK has officially fallen into a recession for the first time in 11 years. The economy shrank by 20.4 percent between April and June compared with the first three months of the year, according to new data from The Office for National Statistics (ONS). It marked the economy’s largest slump on record. The figures showed that the economy bounced...