The number of empty shops in Wales fell slightly in the final few months of 2022, but Welsh store vacancy rates continue to be among the highest in the UK. According to the Welsh Retail Consortium (WRC) and Local Data Company (LDC) vacancy monitor, shoppers in Wales saw fewer empty stores in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Figures show that the overall vacancy rate in Wales improved to 16.3%, dropping from 16.6% in Q3 and 1.2 percentage points up on the same period a year earlier. Shopping centre vacancies improved to 21.9%, down from 23% in Q3, while high street vacancies improved to 16.2% in Q4, down from 16.3% in Q3.
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Retail parks in Wales saw a 0.4 percentage point reduction in empty stores in Q4 at 10.6%, remaining the location with by far the lowest rates.
However, when compared to the rest of the UK Wales was among the nations and regions with some of the highest overall vacancy rates along with West Midlands (15.8%) and the North East (18.2%).
Head of the WRC Sara Jones said: "Buoyed by the run up to Christmas during the ‘golden quarter’, a period which traditionally benefits from pop-ups and temporary lets, Wales saw a small but nonetheless welcome further reduction in the store vacancy rate in the final months of 2022. This was the sixth successive quarterly improvement and was an encouraging end to the year for retail destinations. That said, the vacancy rate remains above pre-pandemic levels and above that for Great Britain as a whole. One in six Welsh retail stores still lies empty."
She added that the challenge for retail destinations now would be to keep up the momentum and sustain improvement in light of concerns over the cost of living crisis and how it affects shoppers as well as stores themselves.
“The extent to which retail remains the cornerstone of our town and city centres will be determined by consumer demand but also government decisions. Retailers breathed a sigh of relief at the decision of Welsh Ministers to freeze the business rate, which meant they avoided a mammoth tax hike whilst grappling with spiralling costs and an uncertain outlook," said Ms Jones.
"However, the freeze shouldn’t be the limit of the government’s ambition on rates. The burden remains onerous, and businesses continue to pay a higher rates multiplier than they would in other parts of GB. Business rates need recast for the years ahead, beginning with a timetable for returning the multiplier to a permanently lower level.”
Lucy Stainton, director of Local Data Company, said: “With vacancy rates being such a good barometer of the overall health of the physical retail and leisure landscape, it’s really positive to see the number of empty units at a GB level continuing to fall since they peaked mid-pandemic. Retail parks continue to outperform other location types which is perhaps an indication that some of those shopping habits formed during the height of covid are sticking – with consumers favouring these drive-to locations and larger format units.
"That being said, shopping centres have also seen a relatively significant decline in vacancy rates with investors in some instances seeing an opportunity to convert space into alternative uses to meet the needs of the local catchment, as well as new concepts coming to market and brands returning to expansion. The Christmas trading period seemed to indicate that consumers were favouring, and returning to stores, alongside their online spend. With retail spaces sitting at the centre of our communities hopefully this will support a continued, even if measured decrease in empty units.”
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