Wales shop vacancy rate hasn’t yet been hit by the Covid pandemic but a reail group warned this would change without public support.
The Welsh shop vacancy rate across all shopping locations was 15.9% in Q2 2020, the same rate as seen in Q1.
The vacancy rate was 16.8% for High Streets (16.8% in Q1); 17.0% for Shopping Centres (17.0% in Q1); and 6.9% for Retail Parks (6.7% in Q1).
These are among the highest in the 海角视频.
Sarah Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: “The inevitable disruption brought about by the pandemic has yet to translate through into these figures, unsurprising given most shops have been shuttered for much of the past quarter and were permitted to re-open only in the last few weeks.
“That said, even prior to the pandemic and the tumult of the past few months, Wales has the highest vacancy rate in Great Britain with one in every seven stores remaining vacant – a stark reminder of the uphill battle we continue to face.
“Wales’ shops and retail destinations will only survive with the support of Welsh consumers.
“The extent to which retail remains the cornerstone of our high streets, and can continue to be the nation’s largest private sector employer, will be hugely influenced by the decisions made by parliaments and governments.
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“Government support for retail during the current crisis has been, overall, significant and rapid. But with retailers’ revenues falling short, more support is likely to be required.
“With the Welsh Government u-turning on its previous commitment to provide a year-long full business rates relief to retailers of all sizes there is an urgent need to address this broken system, as well as supporting those businesses that face a ‘reverse cliff edge’ next spring when 100% rates are scheduled to be re-instated.”
Lucy Stainton, head of Retail and Strategic Partnerships at The Local Data Company “Since 2018, retail vacancy has risen steadily across GB, in part due to the widely discussed oversupply of retail property given changing consumer demands.
“Q2 vacancy results reveal the most significant quarterly increase since our records began in 2012.
“Despite seeing this initial jump, it is still too soon to measure the full impact of the pandemic as almost half of the non-essential retail units that were eligible to reopen following the 15th of June were still temporarily closed as of the 1st July.
"Over the coming months, we are forecasting a spike in vacancy as the real fallout of the pandemic is felt. In the first three weeks of Q3 we have already measured a 0.2% increase, so we can see this will be a sustained trend.”