Who’s up and who’s down on the High St
Last year 1,700 British stores closed. But which sectors are dying, and which are thriving in the battle against the internet?
BRITAIN used to be a nation of shopkeepers, but for how much longer? over the past few months, a number of high-profile names have collapsed, including Maplin and Toys R Us, while other big retailers such as Mothercare, Carpetright, New look and House of Fraser are considering closing stores to secure their future.
But not every High Street is a ghost town. Rather, many have seen the usual butcher, grocer, shoe shop and ladies outfitter replaced by a different breed of business: a beauty salon, a hairdresser or coffee shop. Traditional businesses are being replaced by those operating in ‘the experiential economy’, to use industry jargon. The extent of this transformation is laid bare by recent figures from PwC, the consultancy firm.
Using data gathered from 500 British High Streets and shopping centres, it calculated that the UK’s High Streets suffered 5,855 store closures in 2017, more than in any year since 2010, and witnessed 4,083 openings — a net loss of 1,700 outlets.
The data offers a ‘state of retail snapshot’ because it focuses on net closures/openings of businesses with five or more outlets, rather than independents.
According to the British Independent Retailers Association, some 65 per cent of High Street shops are independent, and they have fared no better as soaring business rates, online competition and a harsh winter take their toll.
The casualties included pubs, fashion retailers, shoe shops, charity shops, travel agents and banks, while coffee shops, tea rooms, beauty product retailers, ice cream and funeral parlours all opened more outlets than they were closing.
The Mail talked to some of the winners and losers about the state of the British High Street . . . and whether it has a future.
RISERS Beauty product shops – net rise nationwide of 30 outlets in 2017 Floral Street, King Street, Covent Garden, London
MICHelle Feeney, 54, made a name for herself as the chief executive of tanning brand St Tropez. Now she has moved into perfume, opening Floral Street in November last year.
The location, near Chanel, Burberry and Apple stores, comes with ‘astronomical’ rent and business rates, Michelle admits. But she views it as an investment. ‘If you are going to make a beauty brand successful, you’d usually launch with a big advertising campaign. Instead, I’ve invested in a store.’
She is optimistic about the state of the High Street. ‘You have to make yourself a destination. Retail is alive and well if you make it exciting.’ What she offers is ‘edutainment’ — a place where customers can sign up for ‘scent tutorials’ as well as buying beauty.
Coffee Shops +25 Coaltown Espresso Bar, Ammanford, Wales
AMMANFoRd is a small former mining town in Carmarthenshire. Scott James, 24, who founded Coaltown, a coffee roasting business, with his father Gordon in 2014 says he wanted ‘to bring some jobs back to the area’. Now he is doing well enough to supply Selfridges.
In February, they opened a cafe, too, and now employ 11 people in total, including roastery staff.
Rent for the cafe, a former burger bar that had been vacant for five months, is fortunately ‘quite low’, he says. ‘That’s thanks to the fact many businesses can’t survive on the High Street, so we’re able to take advantage of that.’
The coffee shop also doesn’t pay business rates as it’s too small to qualify. ( Businesses with a rateable value of £12,000 or less are exempt.)
Scott is positive about the venture’s future. ‘Nowadays, you have to offer people something they can’t get online, something unique, something they can post on Instagram. otherwise you don’t stand a chance. The High Street isn’t finished. It just needs to adapt, like it always has done.’
Ice cream shops +27 Romeo & Giulietta artisan gelateria, Stoke Newington, Hackney, London
WHeN the sun comes out, a queue ten-deep snakes outside the door of this tiny shop. opened last July, it has built up a loyal customer base for its ice cream, made on site by the twentysomething husband and wife team Ciprian Sumanaru, who used to be a plumber, and Iuliana, who used to work in Specsavers. The couple are Romanian but have lived in Italy and kitted out the shop (a former greengrocer’s) to resemble an Italian gelateria.
‘People seem to like the fact that the ice cream is homemade and say it makes them feel like they’re on holiday,’ says Iuliana.
The shop benefits from not having to pay any business rates yet due to its relatively small turnover, and rental is cheap thanks to its location just off the main thoroughfare. ‘Businesses that ensure the very best customer experience have a future,’ insists Iuliana.
Funeral parlours +12 Claridge Funeral Service, Marlborough, Wiltshire
AT THe age of 18, daniel Claridge became Britain’s youngest qualified funeral director and, now 27, he launched his own business last october. He expected to arrange 20 to 30 funerals in his first year but has clocked up nearly 50 so far. His parents, both former paramedics, help out in the business.
The recent boom in funeral parlours in the UK is not because of a spike in the country’s death rate, he believes, but rather an increase in small independent firms. ‘In the 1990s, there were a lot of big firms which bought out the smaller operators, and that led to the service becoming less personal. People are going back to independents, which has led to new businesses being set up.”
He, too, is grateful for not having to pay business rates yet.
Book shops +20 Imagined Things, Harrogate, North Yorkshire
‘YeS, there are a lot of threats to bookshops — online, supermarkets, deep discounting,’ say Georgia duffy, the owner. ‘But there is still something special about a bookshop and a bookseller that still cares about authors.’ Her aim is ‘to put readers in touch with authors,’ and she invites writers to give talks at the shop, which are proving hugely popular.
The 28- year- old, a qualified radiographer who put her job at Harrogate Hospital on hold to open her shop last summer, says conditions are tough and the costs of operating on the High Street are ‘weighted against us’, compared with internet retailers operating out of warehouses paying lower rents and business rates.
Tea rooms +30 Mrs C’s Vintage Tea Room, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire
STeP inside this new tea room and you’re back in the Forties. Glenn Miller is on the gramophone, teapots come with knitted warmers and the owner, Karen Clubley, 46, is dressed in a floral swing dress. She took over the venue in January to meet a