Is your place keeping across the target new shop or venue location requirements posted here by agents and brand property directors…?
It’s a really important part of the role of a tackling #highstreet vacancy-focused ‘place partnership’, and I’d say agent colleagues will tell you it makes a difference to them to hear quickly from a local team in one of the locations, especially if they share with it a set of details for ‘empty and available’ units that fit the bill.
That’s partly because it’s typically a competitive business. The lists usually feature more places than they’ll actually end up with a new opening, so there’s a sense of “first come, first…”.
Rarely if ever a week goes by without at least one requirements post appearing with a description of ideal location and unit types and size, and most of them list town and city centres they’d like to be in too.
We share these lists with local teams in places #TheVacantShopsAcademy is working and encourage them to be in touch.
The fact that there are so many out there is one of the (many) causes we have for optimism that the long-stuck national vacancy rate can be brought down.
Another is that more places are adopting our ‘audit, engage, encourage, promote’ approach which we know can reduce empty unit numbers and improve the mix of use types. That’s because town and city centres using it have halved their vacancy rates in 18 months, some of them further and faster, and others are on that journey now.
If your place has a mid / high teens or over 20% vacancy rate or your residents and existing businesses are keen on a particular use type or brand to fill empty units, do connect with agents and property directors on here and you’ll see…
