Today we released a new report which covers retail and leisure market trends across both the independent and multiple market for H1 2019.
INCLUDES
- Vacancy rates across regions, location types and the GB average
- Openings and closures trends across independent and multiple businesses and retail categories
- Top 10 growing and declining retail categories
- Early stage growth categories (categories with under 100 units which have been growing quickly)
- Persistent vacancy trends
- The impact of CVAs and administrations on the market
- A review of the increasing redevelopment of retail stock across the market
- Guest consumer insights from market research agency, Mintel
- Guest content from KPMG
KEY FINDINGS:
- The Vacancy Rate for GB continued to rise to the highest level since the end of 2014, reaching 11.8%. This equated to a +0.6% rise year-on-year; up from the +0.2% year-on-year rise reported in H1 2018.
- Activity levels (openings and closures combined) were up year-on-year. The number of openings rose the most at 12% in H1 2019 compared to H1 2018, rising from 19,803 to 22,115 in the 12-month period.
- The total net change in retail and leisure units was -3,647 in H1 2019, an improvement on the -4,402 in H1 2018 at the height of the impact seen in this period by CVAs and administrations.
- Independents performed better than Multiples in H1 2019 across all classifications. Independent Leisure and Service Retail categories especially saw growth with figures of +0.23% and +0.69% respectively.
- All of the top 10 early stage growth categories for H1 are dominated by Leisure. Vegan restaurants continue to top the list, as they did in 2018 with a growth rate of 28.6% in H1.
- Numbers of Fashion stores continue to fall with the three categories in the top 10 declining categories in H1 2019 (Fashion shops, Men’s Clothing and Women’s clothing) seeing a combined -285 net decline, higher than the Pubs and Estate Agents categories.
- The Health & Beauty sector continues to thrive, with six of the top 10 growth areas occupied by these categories within the sector (Health Clubs, Alternative & Complementary Medicines, Barbers, Beauty Salons, Nail Salons and Hair & Beauty Salons)
To download a free copy of the full analysis, click here.