As part of its submission to the Treasury ahead of the end of the call for evidence for the second tranche of the business rates review today, the BRC argued a 50% reduction from when the current holiday ends next April would avoid a rash of store closures and job losses. 

In its submission document, seen by Retail Week, the BRC said: “There was an oversupply of retail space in the UK before Covid-19, and trends since February have only increased this as shoppers increasingly shop online – 30% of non-food retail sales were made online in February. This had risen to 40% by September. 

“The share of grocery sales made online rose from 7% to 15% over the same period. This will not return to pre-pandemic levels even once a vaccine is available. The economics of store-based retailing have shifted.”