The Vacant Shops Academy

Which words do you most often see or hear first if someone is just about to write or say #highstreet landlord. 

Greedy. Absentee. Not interested…?

How about we replace those with…

Struggling. Anxious. Trying (the making a big effort sort, not the frustrating).

⚖️ Understanding the perspectives of each of its stakeholders is a crucial role of the tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ that’s always at the heart of our ‘next steps’ approach for #TheVacantShopsAcademy locations…

…and explaining the long list of reasons why a landlord might not be keen on a particular letting (or indeed any one) is a big part of that.

Here’s just some of them:

+ It may not work with their loans / leverage agreements;

+ They may have other aspirations for the #property;

+ It may be a long term investment;

+ The cost to let may be prohibitive;

+ Their income target may be being met by other e.g. upstairs tenants in the building;

+ A deal here may negatively impact agreements with other tenants in the same town / city;

+ The building is listed so they pay no business rates when it’s empty thus reducing their incentive to let;

+ They may have had bad experiences with tenants previously…;

+ …or a tenant that’s left but is still paying rent on an unexpired lease.

And there are other factors we could add, each equally sensible if you look at them from the landlord’s perspective.

So that’s another part of the rationale for a positive, proactive ‘place partnership’. Where one or more of the above is a barrier to getting the empty unit back in play another stakeholder (or two) can step up and help find a way.

You could try the “surely it’s better to…” argument or wield some kind of regulatory stick, but as places that have tried that find, it’s no guarantee to get the job done.

It’s why we encourage the town and city centre teams we’re supporting on tackling vacancy to go for the working together approach: visit the units, see what the barriers to let are, understand the landlord’s circumstances and perspective, and explore what you can do to help. You may still fail, but our experience is that you’ve a greater chance of success.

Or am I wrong…?

Would a National Early Vacancy Insurance Scheme work…?

I’m hoping it’s something #legal and #property colleagues might have some thoughts on.

The idea is to help us overcome two especially tricky kinds of empty unit:

+ Those where the tenant has left with time still in their lease and so continues to pay rent (and often rates etc too) until term is reached, a surrender is agreed or a new tenant takes over (on assignment). Those working on tackling #highstreet vacancy know these outcomes are difficult and as a result rarely achieved, and the place often ends up with a long-time empty, sometimes with the old branding still up as a grim reminder of what it’s lost;

+ Similarly, where the tenant goes into administration and the landlord and place have to wait for that all to work its slow way through the system.

So – on behalf of our town and city centres and neighbour businesses – we need a way to speed these through. Hence my insurance idea we’ll call NEVIS for short.

This is what I’m thinking and would really appreciate it if technical expert colleagues could chip in…

On signing the lease a tenant would pay into an insurance policy a sum that would be added to a national fund. If they left early for either of the above reasons the fund would pay out to cover any remaining rent to the landlord plus an extra amount so the place could get the frontage looking the best it can (signage taken down, paint refresh etc).

I can see a number of flaws and it’d need conditions and timescales, but hopefully it’s a conversation starter we can build on.

I’d love to hear your thoughts…

So the 2024 #highstreet lettings season is pretty well done, time to reflect on how your town and city centre did on reducing empty units.

Though there’ll still be more in the pipeline for some places, it is typically a point in the calendar when interest in taking on space for a new shop or venue winds down…

…an opportunity to consider how your tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ got on, both in terms of bringing the headline rate down but also improving the mix of use types and in making the units that cannot be let yet look the best they can ‘meanwhile…’.

And if your vacancy numbers remain in the mid / high teens or are over 20% or worse, it’s the ideal opportunity to get the local team you need in place to prioritise this crucial metric in 2025.

From #TheVacantShopsAcademy perspective it’s been a heartening run with the number of places we’ve been commissioned to support through our ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach rising to 35, and positive reports on the difference those local teams have made and plan to going forward.

If vacancy numbers are too high in your town or city centre, you have a small number of tricky, long-time empties that the commercial #property market is struggling to shift, or residents and businesses are concerned about a change in the balance of uses you have, we’d love to talk…

We should use poetry more often to help tackle #highstreet vacancy.

It’s an idea sparked during an insightful and enjoyable visit with #TheVacantShopsAcademy to Grimsby town centre.

The poem in the lead picture is one of the locally-focused features of window vinyls and other place-based messaging installations being used here.

It made us reflect on all the different approaches to vacant unit window vinyls we see across our varying commissions. From simply posting the #property agent’s name and lettings details, through those drawing on colourful imagery or an idea of what the unit could become, to a set that reflects the location – its history, #heritage, people and stories.

The poem seemed to add something extra that might help encourage would-be occupiers to invest here.

What do you think…?

Do you have examples in your place of poetry or storytelling being used in this way…?

It’d be great to hear.

What does your place look like after dark. Are your historic buildings, waterways, art installations and other features highlighted. Is your town or city centre worth a late visit just to see them, and what’s its offer…?

In particular, from our #TheVacantShopsAcademy tackling #highstreet vacancy perspective, is that a route to explore for reducing the number of empty units you have.

An important part of this is of course residential, whether or not people are living here and if you’re making the most use of upper floors.

It’ll be about the night time economy and safety and travel home options too.

We’ve also had a great #placemaking conversation on getting vacancy down about uses that might have a day time and an evening offer combined. Examples might be…

+ butchers that becomes a restaurant in the evening;

+ a barbers with a bar;

+ bookshops that host book clubs, or author events or homework classes after what would normally be closing time;

+ art galleries or makers collective shops that host evening workshops;

You’ll have great examples in your own places to add.

So what’s your place like after dark, and how much is that a factor in your ‘place partnership’ work to get those empties back into play. It’d be great to hear…

The thought was sparked by an enjoyable and insightful visit to Grimsby (of which more in future posts) a town centre with, as you can see from the image set, lots to like on an evening stroll.

What’s behind the shutters, boards, maybe vinyls of those vacant units in your town or city centre.

Take a look (if you haven’t already).

It’s something we’d really encourage ‘place partnership’ members on tackling #highstreet vacancy projects to do.

Get the keys and – as a team – go check inside any visibly vacant units your ‘audit, engage’ work suggests the commercial #property market might not let easily.

It gives you a brilliant insight into:

+ what use types could realistically operate from there;

+ whether there’s the option to split the ground floor into smaller units, or do something different on the uppers if it has them;

+ …and importantly, how much work is needed to get them back into play, and whether that’s likely to need funding beyond the contribution of the landlord and any would-be occupier.

These then tell you whether there’s a role for other place partners, maybe on the works needed, to help fund fitting out or just identifying potential tenants.

We’ve been lucky on recent #TheVacantShopsAcademy visits to go-see inside some of those long-time empties, it’s taught us a lot and hopefully helps move those units forward.

It’d be great to hear from you if this is something you’ve done in your place…

Tackling #highstreet vacancy. It’s not just about the numbers.

Several of our recent #TheVacantShopsAcademy commissions are in places that have – by comparison – relatively small empty unit counts.

But they do warrant the tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ approach as much as those town or city centres where the headline rate is in the mid / high teens or over 20%.

Why…?

The challenge those places are reporting are twofold:

They have some, often large and prominent, sometimes long-empty and deteriorating units that are proving tricky to get back into use, maybe ones that had been department stores, large brands or banks;

+ Residents and existing businesses are getting concerned about the mix of uses the centre has – too much of the same thing, not enough “actual shops”, new lettings that don’t really add to its attractiveness as a reason to visit. This is an issue our #placemaking friend Chris Wade FIPM at The People & Places Partnership Ltd. keeps highlighting in his insightful studies of local perceptions.

If this is your town or city centre it’s just as important that the place works alongside agents and landlords to try ensure those few remaining units go to uses that help. That’s about being proactive, consulting on what residents and businesses would value, and working to recruit those that add rather than be passive, wait to see what emerges and grumble about the result.

Similarly with the large units. Eventually something will likely happen, but will it be the outcome the place would choose…? Better – tho not always easy – to try impact those decisions.

We’re very happy to talk with places that have either or both challenges about your options, and share how town and city centres that take on this approach are doing it…

Bit small for a shop, maybe. Maybe.

What is your town or city centre doing with its decommissioned red phone boxes…?

The question came up this week as part of a wider conversation about the (much bigger…?) role arts & crafts, creative, culture, history & heritage can play in our #highstreet places.

For #TheVacantShopsAcademy locations we’ll regularly ask tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnerships’ to think of this list as potential options for taking on vacant units, especially where business and resident consultation suggests improving the mix of uses is important.

This response our #placemaking friend

Chris Wade FIPM at The People & Places Partnership Ltd. tells us is a regular feature of his work on customer (and importantly non-customer) perceptions.

We also argue that creativity has a big part to play beyond vacancy as a contribution to the attractiveness of your place, to extending dwell-time, creating trails of maybe art or heritage features, and crucially where it prompts visitors to take and share images across social media to ‘encourage’ others. 

Our visit this week to Brackley and Towcester featured several examples. It might be commissioned or guerrilla, modern or historic, connected or (seemingly) random. And those red phone boxes are for sure an opportunity.

The team there would love to hear examples of these #heritage treasures being re-used from your places. Do share…