Nearly 7,000 shops have closed so far in 2024

New research by PwC has found that nearly 7,000 shops (6,945) have closed so far in 2024, with this the equivalent of 38 shops per day.

When new shop openings are factored in, there is a new closure rate of 12 shop a day. The net closure rate in the same period of 2023 was 11 shops per day. The analysis shows that, on average, 18 chemists, 16 pubs and nine banks shut down every week between January and June, with three convenience stores and one café chain opened in their place.

Last year saw net store closures of 11 shops a day.

Kien Tan, Senior Retail Adviser at PwC said “The challenge for High Streets is that things like banks, pubs and chemists give people a reason to visit on a regular basis

“But there’s also been a long-term shift in doing many things online, so there’s less need for physical locations. And when we do go out, we want to go maybe to somewhere more convenient like a retail park, where we can drive and do all our shopping in one go.

“We’ve been measuring this for over a decade now and every year there have been more outlets closing than opening and it predominantly affects High Streets. So the reality is that we’re going to have to start thinking of different ways of using and transforming them.”