The Vacant Shops Academy

This is why I’m so optimistic about the future for our town and city centres.

The new openings in our image set, different types in varying towns, but sharing a story of investment, hard work and imagination to get the unit ready, collaboration with and support from local tradesfolk and neighbour businesses, and excitement about welcoming customers and being part of their #highstreet community.

For all of the gazillion words written about the budget, the policies and projections, it’s these stories that fire the belief I have in our places and the people that make them.

And these are just 4 examples from one week in places that we’re supporting on tackling vacancy. Three of them are in units that were empty when we did our first ‘audit’ there, one of them had been like that for a very long time.

There are others you’ll know of from your town and city centres. Nationally the new openings roll seems busier than ever, and requirements lists from agents and property directors for brands looking to increase store or venue numbers keep on coming (we’re regularly sharing those with local tackling vacancy teams and with Laura Harris for HighStreetPositives).

I get that it’s challenging still, that there’s a huge amount to do and that policy and regulation changes would help.

But there are positives. Lots of them.

It’d be great to hear examples from your #property portfolio and places…

A very welcome new shop, a popular eatery, maybe something creative or community…

What’s making the news on your town or city centre social media channels…?

It could be a #retail or #hospitality business opening, brand or indie – and it’d be great to hear examples from your place…

For many a #highstreet those two use types may be enough together with services to take up a good number of the empty units you’re working on as a tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’.

Where it’s not, we encourage the local teams we’re working alongside to explore other ‘alternative’ or additional options: arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health, health & wellbeing, and we’re seeing an encouraging number of those opening and in the pipeline too.

Which explains the other feature of those ‘promote’ channels right now, if my timelines are anything to go by. Among those I’ve seen this week…

• a dementia community group – CreweCreates
• a toolkit for creating play spaces – Play:Disrupt
• a family-friendly panto in a stories pop up shop – Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books

As Laura Harris always emphasises in her brilliant HighStreetPositives campaign posts, our town and city centres are (and in reality long have been) about much more than shopping. It’s important still but in 2025 and going forward we’re asking for more and many of our places are starting to deliver.

So what kinds of positives are making the news where you are…? Do please share.

Time to unveil our emerging set of guides and briefing notes on and around the challenge of tackling vacancy…

They draw on projects and initiatives we’ve been involved with or seen, and our work with place leaders and managers in the 43 locations we’ve taken #TheVacantShopsAcademy so far.

The rationale for writing and sharing them is two fold: firstly, we’re trying to shift the thinking about #highstreet vacancy from being an issue caused by factors outside our control that we’re stuck with, to one that we know how to tackle (as a variety of places are doing, successfully).

It’s also about inspiring those who think getting empty units let again is “just an agent-landlord thing” to understand that the whole place – agents, landlords yes, but businesses, community, cultural organisations, councils, chambers, BID where there is one, too – working together, gets this done quicker and more sustainably.

So. If you are a local council or BID leader who’s planning to:

• start work on tackling vacancy and improving the mix of uses types in your town or city centre;

be one of the places that’s really benefitted from having health & wellbeing services on the highstreet;

• make more of a chance to encourage arts & crafts, creative, culture or community businesses, groups and organisations to take on vacant units;

ensure that empty properties look the best they can while work continues to get them let;

• improve the ‘look’ of your location as a whole because of all that can do to help attract residents, visitors, new occupiers and investors and extend dwell time…

We’ve a guide or briefing note for each of these, so please ask for a copy of whichever fits your priorities…

Brilliant two days with one of the local teams we’re working alongside on tackling vacancy…

…with a number of positive and encouraging signs of things happening that are helping bring down their empty shops numbers already and will make bigger reductions possible in the months ahead.

I’d be really interested to hear from you on new independent or brand #retail, #hospitality or services openings in your town or city centre in what’s typically a busy pre-Christmas period for finalising lettings…

…but also progress you’re seeing on those ‘alternative’ use types in art & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing taking on #highstreet space.

And so to Llanelli and Carmarthen. Two town centres with much happening and a local team working hard on a number of developments and initiatives.

It was great to see and get updates on some of what’s changing here including…

+ A range of rebuild, repurposing projects to get some of the properties into more useable layout and / or condition;

+ A variety of independents newly opening or readying to;

+ A pop up shop scheme across their towns supporting entrepreneurs into units with conversations underway with landlords to take on more.

As we always emphasise, as well as getting a tackling vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ in play to focus on target empty units, half of our ‘next steps’ suggestions for the locations we’re commissioned are about wider placemaking elements including street scene, wall and #streetart, events, travel & access, promotion & more, so it was good to be able to talk through the part some of those are playing in the towns now and could build on going forward.

Do let us know what HighStreetPositives are making a difference to your places right now…

“You could aim to halve your headline vacancy rate in 18 months.”

I said that 4 times this week in conversations with place leaders from different locations – two cities, two towns. Not ones we’re commissioned in, tho they have empty ‘shops’ challenges by the sounds.

“But what about online shopping, out-of-town retail parks, the pandemic, cost of living crisis, energy costs, business rates and more…?” comes the often-echoed counter argument.

Well yes. All factors, but not decisive, not if the experience of town and city centres who’ve been on the case are any guide.

So how…?

First, get a tackling #highstreet vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’ in play so you have agents, landlords, businesses, community, cultural organisations, council(s), chamber, BID where there is one, working on this together;

• Assess how many of your empty units have an agent instructed – on average, according to our ongoing #TheVacantShopsAcademy tally from places we’ve run ‘audit, engage’, 50% of them don’t have. See what you can do to improve whatever your percentage is.

Get the keys. Go inside the most prominent, landmark, longest-empty, worst looking units you have, together, and work out potential use options, what the barriers to let are, how they can be overcome and, importantly, which of the partners needs step up to make that happen;

• Think beyond #retail, #hospitality and services – they’ll all have a role, but so might arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing. Go seek those uses out too.

There’s more, but those three are fundamental.

Really happy to talk through our approach if your place has mid / high teens or over 20% vacancy and you’d like to start getting that down and improve the mix of uses you have.

Also interested to hear from #property and placemaking colleagues who think their town or city centre couldn’t hit that target, and why. Anyone…?

“Join us on a stroll through streets full of linen stories, exploring heritage and contemporary design as we walk and talk.”

Sounds great to me, and it sparked new conversations about the role history & heritage, the buildings, people and their stories, can play in our tackling #highstreet vacancy work today.

So “Welcome to Dunfermline (along with Cupar and Kirkcaldy), one of Fife’s three premiere Linen Towns.”

We spotted the linen references out & about on our first ‘audit’ of town centre empty units here, including the stunning ‘ghost sign’ featured in our lead image.

As ever when we start thinking history & heritage on these trips we’re wondering how much of a part it can play in taking on those vacants.

Options – in general, not specifically here – might include…

• Opening a mini-museum to focus on part of your history. It doesn’t need be a full-scale museum, it could focus on just one era or story even;
• Creating a new archive centre;
• Hosting an exhibition or display of old photographs in an empty shop or maybe just in its windows. Images of your #retail and #hospitality businesses in days gone by are always popular;
• Using a town centre space for workshops or classes on an historical theme, maybe with an arts & crafts element.

And beyond those taking on space opportunities, themes and characters from your place past can help with…

• New sculpture or art installations featuring famous residents or their stories;
• Murals, mosaics, street, wall and shutter art;
• A new history or heritage-focused event.

What am I missing…?

It’d be great to hear how you are making use of place history and heritage today…?

“Reasons to be cheerful, part (forty) three.”

…to slightly adjust that 80’s lyric.

So reflecting on 3 successive weeks out & about in 5 locations – three town centres, two cities – visiting existing and new tackling #highstreet vacancy commissions…

…and seeing enough HighStreetPositives to fill a Laura Harris newsletter.

It remains challenging for sure and there’s much to do. Some of the policy and regulations adjusts we listed in our ‘manifesto’ would help.

But overall headed home in good spirits…

• New indie and brand #retail or #hospitality openings, with more in the pipeline;
• Existing businesses including some very long established still looking great;
• Encouraging examples of uses from our alternative / additional list: arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing taking on spaces;
• Awesome buildings and attractive parks that can be a draw in themselves;
• Stunning wall art and intriguing #streetart installations;

…and perhaps most of all, really good people committed to making their place the best it can be, including of particular interest to us, understanding how reducing empty unit numbers and improving the mix of uses can contribute to that, and getting on the case to make it happen.

We now have a bunch of desk time to run ‘audit, engage’ on the 4 new locations to help build a clear picture of their vacancy challenge.

But for now here’s to places, #placemaking and all that good stuff going on.

As ever it would be great to hear #HighStreetPositives from your place too…