Business campaigners have warned that only those with the “deepest pockets and brightest ideas” will survive this year after figures show that the high street shed almost 120,000 jobs in 2023.
End of year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) suggest 119,405 jobs were lost and 10,494 shops shuttered as businesses battled inflation and other economic headwinds.
Now, there are fresh calls to save the high street before it’s too late for the remaining few after fears it is turning into a ghost town.
Rick Smith, Managing Director of Forbes Burton, said: “The current economic climate has accelerated the culling of some businesses that had struggled to adapt to a changing market. Retail companies in particular have found the public’s switch to online shopping difficult.
“After years of expansion and growth, many companies in the retail sector have found themselves saddled with large premises accruing huge rents and workforce costs. They’ve found that these sites are no longer viable after the ecommerce boom, and we’re still seeing a hangover from that in these figures.
“Those that evolve their businesses to meet the needs of today’s customer have a far better chance of survival.
“With multiple external factors making 2023 a harder time than ever to run a business, only those with the deepest pockets or the brightest ideas will survive.”
Retailers to have collapsed in 2023 include Wilko, leading to the closure of around 400 stores and loss of about 12,000 jobs.
Store closures were down 38.8 per cent compared to 2022 – retail’s worst year for store closures since 2008 when Woolworths collapsed – while the number of redundancies in 2023 fell by 21.3 per cent.
But, Joshua Bamfield, CRR director, noted: “This ‘improvement’ is probably best viewed as a trend that is ‘less bad’ rather than ‘good’, and doesn’t reflect any real strength in the sector.
“The cost-of-living crisis, inflation and increases in interest rates have led many consumers to tighten their belts, reducing retail spend.
“Retailers themselves have suffered increasing energy and occupancy costs, staff shortages and falling demand that have made rebuilding profits after extensive store closures during the pandemic exceptionally difficult.”
The ‘death of the high street’ accelerated at pace last year and saw several household names disappear from shopping centres across Britain.
Some, such as Lloydspharmacy, have vanished completely, while others, like Paperchase, have returned in a different form, as its products are now stocked in Tesco.
According to consultancy firm Forces Burton, 40 high street brands either closed or scaled back their operations in 2023, with most lamenting the expense of running a bricks and mortar store.
More than 1,000 big retail chain branches closed across the UK in 2023 in widespread cost-cutting measures, the firm said.
The hospitality sector has also been struggling with operating costs and the cost-of-living crisis, it said, forcing the public to cut back on non-essential spending.
More than 1,200 chain eateries and other hospitality centres closed their shutters for the final time last year, with an estimated 5,000 jobs lost.
The Daily Express Save Our High Street crusade is campaigning to preserve Britain’s traditional town centres.
