Category Archives: Retail

Lies, damn lies and floorspace statistics…?

Lies, damn lies and floorspace statistics…?
It’s a well-known fact that there is too much retail floorspace currently available relative to demand. Or is it? It’s an article of faith that town centres are being adversely affected by competition from out of town retail developments. But what are we basing that faith upon? We’re not short of reviews and recommendations about the future...
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High Street trends

High Street trends
What really happened to the British high street during the recession years, and what needs doing to preserve their future? Geofutures' Mark Thurstain-Goodwin and Gaynor Astbury contributed to an evidence based report ‘British High Streets: from Crisis to Recovery?’ recently produced by the University of Southampton for the the Government’s policy advisory group The Future High...
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Spotlight on town centre business rates

Spotlight on town centre business rates
What happens to local authority business rates income when out-of-town retail parks compete with town centres? This evidence of out-of-town impact was missing, so we undertook the analysis using Valuation Office Agency data, and our own nationally consistent town centre boundaries originally developed for DCLG. The study period 2005-2010 examined the impact of steep recession, during which...
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