The Vacant Shops Academy

I’ve started wondering if we should maybe switch how we think about it…?

To explain first, it’s a phrase being used to describe people answering #highstreet surveys, commenting in the press and posting on social media about how their town or city centre “isn’t what it used to be”.

When that happens it’s often a result of the fact that many #retail businesses having moved out-of-town or closed altogether, or that we’re now shopping more online than “back then”.

And as placemakers and #property people we’re used to responding by saying that’s how it is, that things are changing, and we cannot go back. That people are hankering after a past that’s gone, not to return and it’s not helpful (hence the ‘negative’ bit).

But is that right…?

Isn’t what’s actually being said here just that people want “more shops” in their town or city centre.

So if that’s what they’re saying, why don’t we just try deliver that…?

To be clear, I’m not advocating a return to clone towns. There are reasons why that was flawed too. I also recognise that one of the very positive changes we’re seeing is that more places are thinking arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing as go-to options to fill empty units – indeed that’s at the heart of the tackling vacancy strategy we’re encouraging locations we support on this issue to consider.

But we say also that retail (and #hospitality) still has a big part to play.

So why, next time we hear residents and existing businesses ask for “more shops”, don’t we try to make exactly that happen.

Thoughts…?

…or why it’s so valuable for places working on tackling #highstreet vacancy to take a team inside empty units to work out how to get them back in use.

That’ll be the focus of the next in our series of guides and briefing notes, hoping they help local teams working on reducing the number of empty units and improving the mix of uses in their town or city centre.

Do let us know if you’re in a local council or BID team focused on this issue and would like a copy of this or one of the others.

They focus on arts & crafts, creative, culture and health & wellbeing as potential go-to uses for vacants, the power of community and business-led clean up operations, and ‘vinyling’ those long-term empties that are looking less than their best.

The latest draws on our experience down the years of getting inside empty units – especially the larger ones that have been like that for a while.

Our approach is to bring together a team of public and private sector specialists – council planners and building control/standards plus conservation officers (depending on the type of unit) with commercial architects, developers, #property agents and cultural organisation representatives – to go see.

Once inside the idea is they assess potential occupier options, barriers to getting the unit used again and how they can be overcome, and importantly, which stakeholders need step up to help make that happen. They can then feedback to the landlord and, if policy or regulation adjusts might help, to the wider ‘place partnership’ and on to government.

Our friends at Aberdeen Inspired are leading on some great pathfinding work around this approach as part of their award-winning Union Street upper floors project, and we’ll share insights from that in the guide.

If you’re running a similar team-based project getting inside vacant units in your place it’d be great to hear from you too…

Your town or city centre’s headline vacancy rate is almost exactly the national average – that’s quoted as 13.5%.

So what could you realistically set as a target looking ahead…?

It’s a very practical question I’ve been asked this week having been drafting ‘next steps’ for one of the locations we’re working with on tackling #highstreet vacancy.

Among the key features of the approach are:

• have a tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ on the case;
• “get the keys” and put together a combined council / private sector team to go inside priority empty units to work out how to get them back in use;
• explore opportunities to encourage businesses or organisations from our list of ‘alternative’ / additional use types to take on spaces;
• make sure your place – buildings, public realm, street furniture etc – all look the very best they can.

There’s more but those are some of the fundamental elements.

With those happening our answer to the question for places currently in the early / mid teens percents would be: “aim to get your headline vacancy rate into single figures within 18 months”.

Based on experience, I’d be confident you can. You should also be able to improve the mix of uses if your residents and existing businesses are getting concerned about how things are changing – maybe away from #retail and #hospitality – with vacants being let to things they’re not really welcoming.

So thinking about your town or city centre. Could you hit that target…? Are you going to…?

It’d be great to hear…

It’s a large, prominent but now long-empty unit in your town centre, and it’s starting show the signs of that too. Paint peeling, partly boarded up, greenery sprouting around the windows.

Got one like that or more…?

So what are you doing about it as a place.

I’ve spent part of this week working with a number of the locations we’re supporting around tackling #highstreet vacancy on what we call their ‘target units’…

…empties they have that look to be a priority for getting back in to play.

So what’s the plan…?

First is “get the keys” and take a ‘place partnership’ team inside to work out occupier options, the barriers to getting the unit back into play and how they can be overcome, and importantly which of the partners needs step up to make that happen.

It might be splitting the ground floor into smaller units, separating off the uppers if it’s multi-floor, starting its journey back by organising a short term, pop-up shop let or, if it’s in too poor a way for that, at least making it look better with a frontage refurb, vinyling or similar.

It’s all part of our core message that reducing the number of empty units you have and improving the mix of uses isn’t “just an agent-landlord thing”, and that the place, working together, can take chunks out of its headline vacancy rate.

It’d be great to hear from #placemaking or #property colleagues on how you’re getting any landmark empties in your town or city centre back into play. Or to hear from you if you’re stuck with one or more.

Do let us know…

“Across the country, 13.5% of shops stand empty, the lowest vacancy rate since 2020, with a further drop expected next year.”

That’s a line from one press story this week.

Now I get that a single positive national media article doesn’t a switch of narrative make…

…but I wanted to share in case you missed it, especially headed as we are into a month when the glooming tends to be at its heaviest.

I recognise that the #highstreet still has its challenges and that we’ve much to do yet.

…and I understand that the study this article was based on will typically be outnumbered in the days and weeks ahead by gloomier ones.

Also, as I’ve already had pointed out, some of the data that’s made for its upbeat take will be around shopping centres and even out-of-town retail parks.

…and that single national average headline rate may not match the figure or direction of travel for your town or city centre.

But still (and here’s another quote from it)…

‘Will Lund, the head of retail capital markets at Knight Frank, said: “With online penetration flatlining and retailers reinvesting in physical space, the narrative around #retail has fundamentally changed. We have great confidence that this demand is going to drive a return to decade-high investment volumes in 2026 and we are expecting a busy year.”’

I’ve long said that, with all the work being done by local #placemaking and property teams, the focus on tackling vacancy in an increasing number of places, the lengthening list of national and international brands opening new stores and venues, and the pick up of the idea that ‘alternative’ / additional uses: arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing can be go-to candidates for empty spaces, the average headline vacancy rate was going to fall.

If we can persuade the government to: “Ask (and resource) every local authority to report on vacancy numbers twice a year, and work with agents, landlords, businesses, community, cultural organisations, chamber and BID where there is one to overcome barriers to let…” I believe we can get it down further, quicker. Hopefully into single figures.

It’d be great to hear how you see things…?

Four years ago this week since I closed the laptop on my time as Oxford City Centre Manager (on Christmas Eve to make it tidy and easy for even me to remember)…

…and launched The Vacant Shops Academy.

Feel privileged to have been able to take our ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach on tackling #highstreet vacancy to 43 locations in that time…

…to have met sooooo many brilliant people working hard to make their places the best they can be, learned a huge amount, and seen local teams help take chunks out of the headline empty unit numbers they started with as well as improve the mix of uses.

My train app says those commission visits in addition to about as many again to places we’ve stopped in on just to walk-see & meet #placemaking and #property colleagues, amounts to 248 rail journeys, 27,788 miles (and 3.4 CO2 tonnes saved).

No doubt things remain challenging and there’s still much to do, but there’s such a lot that’s positive too in terms of new openings and pipelines, ‘place partnership’ working & collaboration, a range of ‘alternative’ / additional uses taking up space, amazing street art & other ‘look’ improvements and more, much more.

So time for a thank you to all those we’ve met, connected with on here and are working with. 

And here’s to 2026…! 

This is what happens if you put 100-plus ‘Positives’ in a room for two and a half hours…

…even if it’s a virtual one.

And so my reflections on an inspiring, insightful first HighStreetPositives summit, albeit a little later than those of many attendees.

Co-hosting duties mean focusing on introducing speakers and panellists, asking questions, keeping tabs on the chat and Q&A and checking we’re running to time, so I’ve taken an extra day or two to run through again what we heard…

• a long and lengthening list of national and international #retail and #hospitality brands opening new stores and venues;
• different models of short term, meanwhile or popup shop uses and how they work for both occupiers and landlord;
• the crucial importance of partnership working;
• five fascinating town and city centre regeneration models followed by intriguing case studies from two places putting very different approaches at the heart of their efforts;
• a global perspective drilled down to explore the varying opportunities we have to take on space alongside retail;
• an update on the national government policy agenda and key current initiatives;
• a look at two locally-led projects with community at their heart, wrapped up with a lovely live reading of a powerful parable for positivity;
• and to close, a very practical conversation on ways we can all help make inroads into the dominance of that negative media around the highstreet.

So thanks to all the presenters and panellists, to Laura Harris for putting together such a brilliant programme, to Emma Whiteacre for great work behind the scenes to ensure everything ran smoothly, and to all our attendees who played a huge part in creating lively chat and Q&A channels.

The plan is for more like it in ‘26 as well as taking our ‘launch’ event to new locations. Cannot wait…!

If you’ve #HighStreetPositives topic ideas that are making a difference to your place we’d love to hear them too…

Shops moving from one to another building in your town or city centre is always an interesting and important part of the story.

It can be for a range of reasons and I would love to hear examples from #property and #placemaking colleagues…

• Looking for a bigger space either to expand the existing offer or to add something extra or different;
• For a more central location, often having started somewhere with lower costs to test things out;
• They find a better deal on costs than in their existing unit.

We’ve also seen a range of moves where maybe there’s less of a drive from the owner…

• Where the landlord decides against extending a lease, maybe because they see another option (more rent, stronger covenant, use type / offer that better fits their plans going forward);
• If the building has issues…
• …or something changes about the street it’s on that impacts footfall / dwell-time and with that, viability;
• It’s the moment from the business perspective to downsize to a smaller unit.

Whatever the reasons, while they’re concentrating on recruiting new #highstreet occupiers from online or outside the town or city to take on empty units, your tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ can also benefit by keeping in close touch with existing businesses about their performance, plans and prospects.

Sometimes facilitating a move can save you losing a business altogether or from a positive perspective, put one of your rising stars on the road to greater success.

I’d be really interested to hear how you’ve influenced this kind of switch and it’s been a plus for your place…