The Vacant Shops Academy

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…

“Half the visibly vacant units in town and city centres have no commercial property agent involved in trying to get them let.”

50 per cent. One in every two.

…and that’s an average figure, so in your place it might be higher. Tho of course there are locations with a lower number, in some we’ve tallied it’s above the 70 per cent mark.

So if there’s no-one proactively trying to secure a new tenant. If there is no board for a would-be occupier to get details from and nothing online, surely it’s less likely to be back in play anytime soon…?

This explains why we are so keen to emphasise to local teams we’re working with on tackling #highstreet vacancy that it’s not just an agents-landlord thing…

…and why we are so sure that having a ‘place partnership’ – bringing together agents, landlords, businesses, community, cultural organisations, councils, chamber, BID where there is one to work on this – means you’ll reduce your headline vacancy rate quicker and more sustainably, and improve the mix of uses.

Couple of explainers…

We started counting which visibly vacant units had an agent involved and which didn’t in our early #TheVacantShopsAcademy locations and have maintained it since, so the data now covers 30+ places (with more to add as we ‘audit’ our newest commissions);

• It’s worth saying also that some of those in the ‘no agent’ tally might have had one on the case but the board’s now down as it let, it’s not got one because tho empty the unit has a former tenant still paying rent on an unexpired lease, or the landlord is trying to take on that marketing role.

Still, that average figure seems high. Too high…

…and trying to get more of your empty units marketed is for sure part of the journey to reducing vacancy.

Do you know what the agent / no agent percentage is in your town or city centre…?

It’d be interesting to hear from you…

To visit another of our new Scotland tackling #highstreet vacancy commissions: Galashiels.

Lots to reflect on including…

• A really strong group of independents, in attractive buildings with careful work done on shop fronts and window displays;
• Major additions, the award-winning, purpose-built Great Tapestry of Scotland centre and new Transport Interchange;
• A long stretch of maintained and so tidy, colourful park and a paved market place to allow folk to sit and rest a while;
• A wall art and on-street installations project focused on the town’s history & heritage;
• Striking views of the surrounding countryside (especially if you can get up to some of its taller buildings) which does so much to bring visitors here;
• A waterway running through creating its own feature;

…and more.

Not least from our perspective that the town’s business improvement district team – BID for Galashiels – are already focused on its small set of large, longer term and so potentially tricky to get back in play vacant units, engaging with landlords, raising awareness among partners and starting to think through potential options.

Really looking forward to running the ‘audit, engage’ part of our approach and supporting this local initiative.

As regular readers will know, getting a ‘place partnership’ on the case and exploring the potential role for arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing as go-to occupiers are two key elements of how we see things, so it’s encouraging to find places already started.

…and if you’re in this part of the world walking, cycling, golfing or travelling a borders stations train, it’s worth a visit…!

…a really enjoyable, insightful first visit to Stirling city centre.

• a collection of striking buildings, with thought given to reflecting their history;
• a really strong group of #retail, #hospitality and services independents;
• a varied national brand offer, largely based in the indoor shopping centre;
• a number of recent additions with more on the way;
• signs of a proactive creative community taking its place in the city centre;
• the beginnings of a #streetart and installations theme;
• …and especially interesting from our perspective, a number of intriguing vacant unit opportunities for businesses and organisations, especially in our ‘alternative’ or additional #highstreet uses list that runs from arts & crafts thru leisure and education to health & wellbeing, to take on space.

We’re looking forward now to running our ‘audit, engage’ approach to see what more it tells us about the status, options and barriers to let of those ‘opportunities’ units and the ‘next steps’ that suggests.

If you’re in this part of the world it’s 100% worth a visit…!

It’s really heartening to return to a town centre we’d run our ‘audit, engage’ approach in among earlier adopters for #TheVacantShopsAcademy and to find it looks to be moving forward strongly on a number of fronts.

So back to the attractive, heritage town that is Monmouth and several noticeable changes, including…

• + A new group of independents in the pedestrianised ‘top of town’;
• + Neat examples of #streetart adding to the improved ‘look’ of that area;
• + Visible progress on a set of what looked to be more challenging vacants, with one or two of those now being marketed or in new ownership and potential therefore to be brought back into use;
• + A recently-opened banking hub;
• + A new grocers in a really handy ‘cut through’ spot;
• + New ownership and a major refurb pre-opening project for a landmark building at one of the town centre’s key entrance points.

Challenges too, including a slightly surprising mini-cluster of vacant units in the central section of the #highstreet to work on, but encouraging still.

Interested as ever to hear how your town or city centre has fared through the 2025 lettings season as it draws to a close…

Historic landmarks, heritage buildings, seafront, #streetart and installations, treasured local characters, a market – all things that can be a factor in work to strengthen the vitality and viability of your town or city centre and its businesses today.

It’d be really interesting to hear how important those features are if you have them in your place.

For us it was part of a fascinating out & about in Fleetwood – the latest town centre we’re supporting on tackling #highstreet vacancy. 40 locations now with three more joining in the weeks ahead…

…and it started us thinking how all those elements can contribute to ‘next steps’.

As well as getting a ‘place partnership’ on the case, the other main focus of our ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach is exploring the role of arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, history & heritage, leisure, education, health and health & wellbeing as potential go-to options to take on empty units. And you can get a clue to how much promise those have from the street scene and surroundings.

Really looking forward now to doing the follow on research to understand the status of the vacant units in the central streets here, their backstory, barriers to let and ways to overcome them…

…but it already looks – alongside the existing #retail, #hospitality and services offer – like those ‘alternative’ or additional use types could be key.

How important are they in driving change in your place…? Do let us know…