Retail Market Overview

Retail High Street Demand

  • We have seen quite a sea change in demand opening up in 2024 across most sectors, whereas in 2023 the market was still quite, depressed with very limited new  UK retail requirements.
Milton Keynes Middleton Hall Square Christmas Lights outside John Lewis
Milton Keynes Middleton Hall Square - Christmas Lights outside John Lewis

F&B

  • On the F&B side we have seen companies as diverse as Greggs , Gails, Black Sheep Coffee, Wendys, Wingmans, all driving up sales as well as all the known food brands with the likes of Burger King now taking more centre stage, but drive thrus are de rigueur for most, where new sites can be found.
Black Sheep Coffee
Black Sheep Coffee
  • The F&B Market now for fast food is getting to 40-70% home delivery, which is a worrying factor, increasing road delivery congestion as customers reluctance, partly exacerbated by the pandemic, to tear themselves away from their TVs or iPhones!
Greggs
Greggs

Retail Food Supermarkets

  • The retail food supermarket sector remains buoyant in town and out of town, with the main players of Tesco,Sainsbury,M&S, Aldi, and Oseyo expanding rapidly across the UK.
  • Competition is growing every day as food has become the dominant retail sector in the UK and online food sales have dropped back to a much lower-level post pandemic, as shoppers like to get out and about now.
Oseyo

Leisure

  • On the leisure front we have companies like Gravity , Escape Room, Jetts Fitness and Oxygen active play, to name but a few, taking large chunks of dead High Street space, to even the Guinness World records seeking a 30,000 sq ft flagship store in London.
Jetts
Jetts

Rents

  • Rents generally have stabilised and, in some cases, are rising and certainly always pressure on the better positions.

  • We see 2025 as a stable year with relatively good take up a space, throughout most areas of the country, but expansion being limited because of the damage National Insurance is doing to the employment rates and people’s concern over the way the economy is now going.

Rating

  • Rating will remain a contentious issue, but is unlikely any government will ever tackle this in the foreseeable future.

  • The 2026 new rating list will be published in later 2025 and what this will mean for retailers and the impact on the market for better or worse.

Out of town

  • We see strong continuous demand for retail parks and industrial warehousing with continuing good internet sales continuing to play a more dominant part in all retail sales.

London

  • There is no doubt that London has become quite a centre of activity again, with tourist levels back to where they were pre pandemic now.

  • Office take up as has been improving particularly in London, but where high quality space is more in demand with a gradual office return.

  • Most retail pitches are strong now ,with some exceptions like Oxford Street, as what was the prime part of Oxford Street is now focused at the Tottenham Court Road end with Cross Rail being there and the likes of parts of High Holborn, being in the doldrums.

  • London traffic flow has been severely damaged by the changes that have taken place to encourage cycling, as so many roads have been closed off bringing traffic flow to a snail’s pace including for bus transport and also greatly encouraging cycle-hire dumping.

  • Previous to the move to allowing proliferating cycle lanes in London, taxi drivers say cyclists and traffic existed well together, but now cyclists are virtually all running red lights and creating a lot of potential danger and frustration to both pedestrians and drivers alike. Not good news.
London Traffic flow
London Traffic flow

Fashion Retail

  • Companies like Deichmann with 4600 stores worldwide, are still very much in the market with a latest acquisition as far afield as Sunderland.
Deichmann
Deichmann

  • Other big brands have been having a heyday, like Zara and Next with sports stores taking up the slack left by the closure of department stores like John Lewis, who seem to have not recaptured their previous glory and are no longer regarded as an important anchor unlike M&S, who are back in front.

  • The Internet to a great extent has destroyed department stores, as they are effectively that the new department store.

John Lewis
John Lewis

  • Marks and Spencer are definitely back in the top spot in town and certainly towns do suffer know where they have left, as they seem to have got their fashion and food right after many years.

  • More specialist companies like Ebeket, the Turkish babywear group, are even looking for stores in the UK.

Retail space

  • Space of availability throughout the UK has tightened but with the inevitable flat spots, but London now has very little shop availability across the board.

  • The charity shops sector have not been slack on the uptake, particularly for Age UK, Salvation Army and British Heart Foundation, as  the main movers and shakers.

  • With people back travelling on holiday more companies like the Flight Centre are about taking shops.

Once the poor man of Europe now one of the best!

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