Region loses 868 high-street chain retail shops - PwC

A total of 868 chain retail shops have disappeared from West Midlands high-streets, according to new research from PwC compiled by the Local Data Company (LDC).

In the West Midlands, 600 shops opened and 1,468 closed, a net decline of 868. Nationally, there was a net decline of 9,877, with 7,655 opening compared to 17,532 closures.

It is the worst set of retail closure figures seen since 2015, with an average of 48 chain stores closing every day, and only 21 opening.

Worryingly, PwC says, the real impact of the pandemic is yet to be felt as some stores 'temporarily closed ' during lockdowns, are unlikely to return.

Retail parks have seen the smallest number of net closures of any location (93) in the West Midlands, compared to shopping centres (285) and faring worst of all high-streets (487).

PwC 's report also found that shopping centres by contrast, were the number one and three most hardest hit categories for net closure in 2020.

City centres are now faring worse than suburbs and commuter towns, and shopping centre shops are twice as likely to close as retail parks, according to the report.

With fewer people visiting, city centres, such as Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and Newcastle, have seen an almost eight per cent decline in multiple stores.

Suburbs across the UK have done better, as have commuter towns in the South East and East of England, such as Slough, Orpington, Harlow and Welwyn Garden City.

Despite the uncertainty and volatility of the past year, some operators are still expanding and finding the right physical stores in the right sector and the right location. For retail, this includes convenience, discount or essential operators, general merchandise value retailers that don 't typically sell online, and local services that need to be located nearby, such as tradespeople or repair shops.

Sarah Philips (pictured), Midlands consumer markets lead at PwC, commented: “The effect of Covid-19 is yet to be seen on most categories as much of the impact we 've seen this year is a reflection of things that happened before the pandemic. This was not just the move online but areas such as legislative changes, e.g. for betting shops, consolidation due to previous overexpansion, or chainwide closures for restaurants and mobile phone stores that found themselves in trouble pre-Covod-19.

“The full extent will be revealed in the coming months as many of the CVAs and administrations in the early part of 2021 still haven 't been captured, including department stores, fashion retailers and hospitality operators that will leave big holes in city centre locations. Retail and leisure operators must take action to ensure they are in the right places, so they 're not left surrounded by empty units and shopfronts.

“However, there will be big opportunities for growth into the gaps that are emerging. After the global financial crisis we saw growth of discounters and foodservice chains that replaced exiting retailers. There is an opportunity for operators who can find the right location at the right time to thrive, even despite the current uncertainty. ”