BUILT ENVIRONMENT
“ The long list of figures showing the impact of accelerated online adoption on local high streets brings home the impact of the crisis – a person , and family , behind every fourfigure job loss ”
we do know is online sales have grown by more than 50 % in nine months , and food channels have boomed – up from 6.5 % pre- COVID to around 15 % now – which has major implications for cafés and restaurants .
The figures are harrowing . The British Retail Consortium reports non-food retail stores will have lost £ 30bn in foregone sales over the three lockdowns . The Centre for Retail Research states 188,685 retail jobs were lost between March 23 2020 , and March 31 this year , and there have been 15,153 store closures .
Bournemouth landmark Bobby & Co is being renovated with new beauty , retail , food and art features
KPMG ’ s Future of towns and cities post COVID-19 report highlights how retail will never again represent the same size and space , and high streets will have to become multi-purpose locations .
The report contains an alarming table showing the impact of accelerated online adoption on local high streets , which brings home the impact of the crisis – a person and family behind every four-figure job loss . All in , it believes up to 400,000 jobs have gone from UK high streets .
London ( 12,214 ) understandably has seen the biggest losses – albeit the city is a relative outlier as it doesn ’ t have a single contiguous city centre and boasts plentiful cultural attractions which will doubtless draw business back . Basingstoke tops the table – while it lost 2,602 jobs , this represented 39 %
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