The overall retail vacancy rate increased to 14.1% in the first quarter of 2021, marking a 1.9% uplift from the same period in 2020 according to the BRC-LDC Vacancy Monitor. 

This vacancy rate was up from the 13.7% recorded in the final quarter of 2020 and marks three consecutive years of rising retail vacancies.

It is estimated that today there are 5,000 fewer stores than there were at the start of the pandemic, with one in seven shops now empty.