Depressing news came this week of the
continuing shrinkage of Scotland’s shop-borne retail sector.
The PwC report that a bricks-and-mortar store will close every day this year
provides grim evidence of a trend that many suspected.
Online buying, with customers
finding it cheaper, quicker and often better because of greater product range, to click rather than call in person is a major reason for our emptying high streets.
It’s difficult to know what to do about it, with customer loyalty to cherished retail institutions only likely to go so far.
Councils trying to stem the tide through policies to safeguard shopping in town centres can find themselves turning down major, job-creating investment projects in out-of-town retail parks.
The problem is at its worst in Dundee, revealed by commercial
property listing service NovaLoca as having the highest proportion of retail availability in Scotland.
PwC’s research suggests traditional shops should change the way they
operate to survive.
Combining off and online shopping with click-and-collect could be a way ahead.
That might depend on how easily people can collect, which opens the issue of town centre parking restrictions – think of McEwens of Perth.
Another approach may be to mix things up.
That is certainly the view of Dundee councillor Lynne Short, who previously worked as a property agent.
With the beleaguered Wellgate Centre slap bang in the middle of her ward, it is a subject she sees every day.
She considers we have to think out of the box for solutions, like not categorising streets and centres as places for certain types of retail business – all high end or middle market, for example.
“In Warsaw in Poland you find Prada and Armani round the corner from a soup kitchen selling bowlfuls for as little as 26 pence – and the area is packed with shoppers,” she said.
So how about a retail revival through putting expensive alongside budget and even charity shops – so a street offers something for everyone?
They say variety is the spice of life. Maybe it can also spice up retailing in our town centres.
