Location, location, location: where retailers will need stores in a post-Covid world
Retail Week analyses the toll taken on retail destinations over the past 15 months, how they will fare in future and what plans all stakeholders – from local authorities to retailers and landlords – have put in place to bounce back or build momentum.
The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on UK physical retail have been especially profound. Data from PwC found that in 2020 alone more than 17,500 stores closed across the country – a net decline of almost 10,000 shops and the biggest decline in more than a decade.
In March, Local Data Company (LDC) predicted that 2021 would be even worse for store closures than last year, with potentially another 18,000 shops closing even as restrictions began to lift and the vaccine rollout continued apace.
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