East of England

Footfall rises ahead of Christmas but remains lower than 2023 levels

Footfall rose for the second consecutive week last week across all UK retail destinations with retail parks and shopping centres paving the way, according to MRI Software’s new data. However, levels were still considerably lower than the same week last year. For the week to 22 December, footfall rose by…

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Vacancy rates improve to 13.8% in Q4

The overall vacancy rate improved to 13.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022, which was 0.1 percentage points better than Q3 and 0.6 percentage points better than the same period last year, according to the latest BRC/LDC monitor. This was the fifth consecutive quarter of falling vacancy rates. All locations…

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Store vacancy rate falls but remains below pre-pandemic levels

In the third quarter of 2022, the overall GB vacancy rate decreased to 13.9%, a 0.1% rise from Q2 and 0.6% better than the same period last year, according to the latest monitor from the BRC and Local Data Company. This was the fourth consecutive quarter of falling vacancy rates.…

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Store closures drop to lowest rate in seven years

Store closures have stabilised to the lowest rate in over seven years, with 6,146 store closures in H1 2022 (-30%) year-on-year from multiple retail operators, compared to 3,888 openings (+11%). According to PwC’s latest Store Openings and Closures report for H1 2022, there were 34 closures, 21 openings, and a…

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Independent retailers feeling ‘optimistic’ about high street future

More than half of the nation’s independent high street retailers are optimistic about the future of their local high street – and four out of five shoppers would miss their local high street if it was no longer there. This is according to new research to launch the government-run Great…

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High street health

Two interesting things struck me in our news coverage this month. First a new selling feature on photo-sharing social media app, Instagram, was ignored by more than 80% of retailers in its first week. A new ‘Shopping’ feature was rolled out to business accounts in the UK, as well as…

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Study finds independent retail and leisure outlet growth is soaring

As multiple stores like New Look, Maplin and Toys ‘R’ Us close, a study by OnBuy.com has found that this has led to a rapid increase in the number of independent retailers. The study from the online retailer considered where multiple stores have declined in comparison to areas independent stores…

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Shop vacancy levels fall to five-year low

The number of vacant shops in Britain has fallen to its lowest since April 2010, according to new figures from the Local Data Company (LDC). In September, Britain’s shop vacancy levels fell to 12.9%. This was despite the leisure vacancy rate increasing from 8.13% in August to 8.16% in September…

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