As once bustling thoroughfares fill up with empty units we look at strategies to revitalise them

SCOTLAND’S landmark shopping streets are in danger of becoming “shopping deserts” as retail units empty and upmarket shops pull out.

Along the main shopping thoroughfares in the biggest cities, buildings that used to house the major names in retail are now selling tourist tat, vape liquid and cheap Christmas gifts, while others carry “To Let” signs.

Shoppers hurry by on their way to covered centres – or head in their cars to out of town malls.

In Aberdeen’s Union Street, businesses are so worried that 165 of them held an emergency summit meeting last week.

The mile-long strip in the centre of the city has fallen into serious decline with about a quarter of shops sitting empty.

Calls have been made for action to halt the downturn of the so-called Granite Mile.

Aberdeen is not alone. All the country’s major shopping areas are struggling to recover from the high street version of Long Covid. Lockdown closed non-food retailers, mothballed offices and saw consumers do more and more of their shopping online.

With many people still working from home, footfall is struggling to return to 2019 levels.

Then came the economic downturn, as households look to cut down on their spending.

David Lonsdale of the Scottish Retail Consortium said: “Many of our traditional flagship high street retail destinations have been battered by the pandemic and the galloping cost of living.

“Shopper footfall is recovering but remains an eighth below pre-pandemic levels.

“Train strikes have made it worse, having a destabilising impact on retail and hospitality.”

We take the temperature of key shopping streets in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen – and ask what needs to be done for them to have a future.