Retail is reopening!

At least that’s the plan, as long as Covid behaves itself and lockdown lifting goes smoothly. Or as smoothly as these things can go – we’ll be keeping our fingers firmly crossed!

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

The big day in England is 12th April and it can’t come soon enough. Non-essential shops have been closed for months and the longer they remain that way, the higher the risks of job losses, store closures and the damage those do to local communities. It’s thought that the cost of lockdown to non-food stores is over £22bn – an eye-wateringly staggering amount.

But how will our high streets look when they start to open up again? 
They’d been through a lot before the pandemic, but the last year has been unimaginably hard. That’s shown, sadly, in the loss not only of Debenhams but also the Arcadia stores. Vacant storefronts may well be with us for a while. 

If high street retail doesn’t bounce back, what would you like to see in those spaces? We’ve seen talk in the press of turning some high street areas into parks or green spaces. On a smaller scale, can they be used as community hubs or pop-up shops in the short term? Our high streets have been changing for a long time now (long before Covid) so it’ll be fascinating to see what happens in the months and years ahead.

We’d hate to see the high street go all together, though, so it’s a really good time to think again about what you (and other stores) can do to entice customers back through those doors. In her latest newsletter, Mary Portas suggested that reopening might see a move towards creating retail experiences that really draw customers in, rather than just relying on stacking shelves high. What could you do to make sure your customers love spending time in your space? It’s definitely one to think about…