200 shopping centres are in danger of going bust
More than 200 shopping centres are at risk of going bust, warn experts.
They are in danger of failing as shoppers turn to internet giants such as Amazon, according to a property investment firm.
The collapse of major retailers such as BHS and Toys r Us, has left many shopping centres, retail parks and high streets with vacant stores, says the report by APAM. Analysts warned that the crisis risks turning town and city centres into ‘husks’ populated by bookies and charity shops.
‘If centres close, particularly in small towns, it will be catastrophic,’ said Nelson Blackley, from the National retail research Knowledge exchange Centre.
‘People are suggesting a number of leading national retailers are on the edge and may close and that would bring shopping centres down with them.
‘The collapse of BHS two years ago left empty units in around 200 shopping centres and more than half of those large, empty units have not yet been filled.’
retailers such as Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare and Carpetright are closing hundreds of stores between them as crippling costs and an onslaught from online shopping take their toll. Mr Blackley added: ‘If the major anchor store moves out, that has a halo effect on other stores in that centre. It’s a downward spiral and you can’t fill shopping centres with nail bars and vape shops.
‘We have too many of them, doing exactly the same – the same range of stores and products – and basically that’s not attractive.’
Many of the at-risk centres are owned by US private equity firms under deals that will need refinancing. The figure of 200 was arrived at by analysing the financing of shopping centres.
The Daily Mail has been campaigning for a level playing field in business rates paid by high street retailers and online giants such as Amazon.
Around 50,000 retail jobs have already been lost since the start of the year, and about 61,000 stores have shut in the past five years.
More than one in ten shops is vacant, with more than half of former BHS stores still lying empty two years after the store chain collapsed into administration.
In some cases local councils have tried to intervene by buying or taking over neglected shopping centres, but questions remain over how sustainable this approach is.
Simon Cooke, executive director of APAM, warned that town centres could suffer increasing vandalism and crime if shopping centres were left underinvested.
‘These are big tracts of land, occupying a central space in towns,’ he said. ‘Politicians need to come up with a plan to kick-start the regeneration of shopping centres.’
Nickie Aiken, Conservative leader of Westminster City Council, said: ‘This is a troubling omen of the malaise that is setting in across high streets and shopping centres across the country.
‘It underlines the case that retailers urgently need a level playing field to compete with online giants. We need our major bricks and mortar stores as part of the retail mix to keep people coming to shopping centres, towns and cities.
‘The risk you run otherwise is that high streets end up as husks largely populated by bookies and charity shops.’
on Monday Philip Hammond handed thousands of small firms relief from their business rate bills in an attempt to help struggling town centres. In the Budget, the Chancellor said the £ 1.6billion scheme would translate into an annual saving of up to £8,000 for independent retailers.