{"id":4182,"date":"2018-11-09T04:34:08","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T04:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/retailers-shut-2700-shops-in-first-half-of-the-year\/"},"modified":"2018-11-09T04:34:08","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T04:34:08","slug":"retailers-shut-2700-shops-in-first-half-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/retailers-shut-2700-shops-in-first-half-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Retailers shut 2,700 shops in first half of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div property=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width lead\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" alt=\"Store closing down\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/DDF7\/production\/_104232865_gettyimages-591082156.jpg\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\"\/><span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><br \/>\n                 <span class=\"story-image-copyright\">Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">About 14 shops are closing every day as UK high streets face their toughest trading climate in five years, a report has found. <\/p>\n<p>A net 1,123 stores disappeared from Britain&#8217;s top 500 high streets in the first six months of the year, according to the accountancy firm PwC. <\/p>\n<p>It said fashion and electrical stores had suffered most as customers did more shopping online. <\/p>\n<p>Restaurants and pubs also floundered as fewer people go out to eat or drink.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-46107834\" class=\"story-body__link\">New Look may lose more than 120 UK stores<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-46026119\" class=\"story-body__link\">Will Hammond&#8217;s Budget save the High Street?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>London was the worst-hit region, PwC said, while Wales had the lowest number of closures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Looking ahead, the turmoil facing the sector is unlikely to abate,&#8221; said Lisa Hooker, consumer markets leader at PwC.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Store closures in the second half of the year due to administrations and company voluntary arrangements [a form of insolvency] already announced will further intensify the situation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Which shops were hit hardest?<\/h2>\n<p>According to PwC, 2,692 shops shut across the UK in the first half of 2018, while only 1,569 new stores opened. <\/p>\n<p>Electrical goods stores were among the biggest casualties, largely due to the collapse of Maplin in February that resulted in 50 stores being closed. <\/p>\n<p>Italian restaurants also struggled, as Jamie&#8217;s Italian and Prezzo both shut stores after striking rescue deals with their creditors, while Strada also made closures.<\/p>\n<p>PwC said there was net decline of 104 fashion shops and 99 pubs as openings failed to replace closures &#8220;at a fast enough rate&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>There were some bright spots, however, with supermarkets, booksellers, ice cream parlours and coffee shops all seeing slim net gains in their store counts. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Which regions suffered most?<\/h2>\n<p>According to PwC, Greater London had the largest number of store closures of any UK region, with a fall of 716, while only 448 were opened. <\/p>\n<p>Other cities that suffered included Leeds, which opened nine stores but closed 35, and Reading where there were 39 closures and only 18 openings.<\/p>\n<p>Newcastle fared worst in the North East, with a net decline of 17 stores, while Nottingham fell by 35.<\/p>\n<p>None of the UK regions analysed by PwC recorded a net gain in store count in the first six months of the year. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">What&#8217;s causing the problem?<\/h2>\n<p>Retailers are facing a perfect storm of pressures as consumers rein in their spending and do more of their shopping online rather than on the high street.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, many retailers have found themselves struggling to pay their rents and other overheads, such as a rising minimum wage and business rates. <\/p>\n<p>In last month&#8217;s Budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond promised to spend \u00a3900m on reducing the business rates bill of 500,000 small retailers by a third. <\/p>\n<p>He also promised a new tax for online firms that employ fewer staff and pay far lower business rates. <\/p>\n<p>However, the British Retail Consortium said the chancellor was &#8220;tinkering around the edges&#8221; and called for &#8220;wholesale reform&#8221; of the business rates system.<\/p>\n<p>The Minister for High Streets, Jake Berry, said the government was determined to make high streets thrive. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have created a \u00a3675m fund to help high streets adapt, slashed business rates&#8230; and are creating a task force guided by Sir John Timpson, one of the UK&#8217;s most experienced retailers, to ensure that high streets are adapting for rapid change and are fit for the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-46142025\">Source<\/a> by <a href=\"\">[author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright Getty Images About 14 shops are closing every day as UK high streets face their toughest trading climate in five years, a report has found. A net 1,123 stores disappeared from Britain&#8217;s top 500 high streets in the first six months of the year, according to the accountancy firm PwC. It said fashion &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}