“High Street units wanted.”
“Please do get in touch with the team about any new opportunities.”
These, from two different national retail brands, are the latest published new location asks we’ve seen.
The first is from Screwfix for their new ‘City’ format and includes a 30-strong list of target places. The second, by Savers Health Home & Beauty, was part of a post celebrating their three new store openings in a single week.
Thanks to connections with commercial agents and property directors, we’re seeing a lot like these and as well as contributing to the positive sense I have about the highstreet going forward, there’s also a very practical reason they’re great to be across.
They’re a big motivation for our efforts to encourage local place teams to work on reducing their headline vacancy rate together. Getting a heads up about who might by looking to invest in your town or city centre, knowing what units you have available that might suit them, and then reaching out with those details can make a difference to the outcome.
It’s often the case that the target list is longer than the final set of new stores they actually open, so in a way it’s competitive.
Does your town or city centre routinely reach out to would-be occupiers – not just brands, but also independent occupiers or those from our arts & crafts to health & wellbeing group of ‘alternative’ / additional go-to use types.
I’d love to talk you through the ‘place partnership’ approach that this is a key part of…
