20+ per cent of the units in your town or city centre are vacant.”
What does that tell you…?
Well obviously it says you have a significant empty units challenge, and if you’ve not already, you need get a positive, proactive tackling highstreet vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ on the case.
But it also means you have 75-80% of your units occupied, with business owners and their teams working hard to attract customers, increase footfall, extend dwell-time.
I’ve used 20+ per cent as a headline but the principle is the same whatever the figure.
It’s why one of the four elements of our ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach to tackling highstreet vacancy is ‘promote’.
It’s so easy to have empty units dominate the narrative so that the businesses you do have get forgotten…
…and when you’re trying to attract in would-be new occupiers it’s no help if some of those you have already leave too.
So – as a place – make videos, profile the people behind the shopfronts, get on your social media channels with positive stories, run collective promotions like restaurant week or similar, create trails linking businesses together & more.
It makes such a difference from mood and morale to finances and in the end stay-or-go decision-making. It’ll also help with those efforts to attract new occupiers and investors.
It’d be great to hear how you’re promoting the businesses in your place while the work to get empties let continues…
