The demise of Carpetright has left around 200 stores across the UK vacant and potentially up for grabs. Here are some of the retail names eyeing off a portion of the empty units.
Last week, the headlines were dominated by news of the latest high-profile retail failure: Carpetright. While the brand name and 54 stores have been snapped up by rival Tapi Carpets, more than 200 stores and stores-in-stores were left out of the multimillion-pound rescue deal.
As a result, over 1,000 Carpetright jobs are at risk of disappearing and hundreds more units in UK high streets and retail parks are due to fall vacant – a full list of which we published last week.
The brand collapsed reportedly owing an estimated £213m to customers, suppliers and landlords, all of whom are bound to be left almost entirely out of pocket.
As has ever been the case in retail though, one brand’s failure is another’s opportunity and physical shopping is riding high after a few tough years in the doldrums.
As one property source notes: “I think the landlords will view it as an opportunity because Carpetright will have negotiated lower rents. The demand isn’t coming just from bulky goods, but also from fashion and food and beverage. This creates an opportunity to change the needle on rents.”
C-store space race
The average Carpetright store is roughly 6,000 sq ft of floor space and tends to be located at a retail park, although the retailer also had a handful of high street and regional town centre locations as well.
While Tapi secured the best former Carpetright stores in the sale, one property agent says there is still plenty of interest in the remaining 200 or so sites. Given their size and locations, they say convenience store operators such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Iceland’s Food Warehouse, the Co-op, Greggs and even the likes of Pret a Manger will all be looking at the sites with interest.
“They’d be quite big, some of them, for standalone c-stores,” said the property agent. “I could see the supermarkets taking a few between them. It’d be a relatively quick, easy and cheap way to expand into areas where they might be a little underrepresented.”
A source close to one food retailer says it would potentially be interested in some of the former Carpetright stores, provided “the planning permissions for some of the units can be obtained to be able to sell food from them.”
Greggs boss Roisin Currie was more circumspect when asked whether the food-to-go specialist was eyeing up any of the defunct retailer’s vacant stores. While she has gone on the record in the past saying that Greggs is looking for a bigger physical presence on retail parks, Currie said yesterday the Carpetright units might be too big.
“If there was a retail park that one of those units was previously on and was the right size for us, then absolutely we’d look at all opportunities.
“I’d imagine the Carpetright stores are probably of significantly bigger size than a usual Greggs store would be. But it’s interesting because the catchments are constantly changing in terms of the different operators that are there.”
While size may be an issue for the likes of Greggs, the property source says deals could still be done. “There’s an asset management opportunity there by carving up the Carpetright stores into smaller units,” he says.
“They could find a retailer occupier in a similar category looking to expand, bring them in with half the space, and then let the rest of the frontage to a food and beverage operator.”
Screws vs skincare
Health and beauty retailers and home and DIY brands will also be eyeing up certain vacant Carpetright units, according to the property agent.
“I’ve heard that a few of the high street health and beauty players are having a look too. Particularly the cosmetics guys – think Savers and Superdrug in particular.”
Superdrug has been ramping up its bricks-and-mortar expansion this year and has targeted 25 new stores by the end of 2024. Earlier this month it announced it had grown market share in the beauty category for the third straight year, and that profits and sales had both jumped.
“The beauty guys might end up in competition with some of the home and DIY guys as well,” the property agent adds. “I’m sure a few of those locations will also end up being taken by B&Q, Screwfix or Toolstation.”
Kingfisher, which owns B&Q and Screwfix, last year said it had plans to open 100 new stores for the two brands across the UK – 50 smaller format B&Qs and 60 more Screwfix sites.
The French giant wants a total of 1,000 Screwfix stores in the UK and Ireland and said in March that its B&Q local formats in the UK and Republic of Ireland had been “delivering encouraging learnings and results”.
Added value
Another retail name heavily linked with vacant Carpetright stores is Poundland, which has gone from strength to strength during the cost-of-living crisis and has been openly public about its growth ambitions.
Other names being linked include fast-fashion retail chain Peacocks, outdoor retailer Mountain Warehouse, and even international player Harvey Norman.
The Australian electricals giant is eyeing a UK expansion, having operated a network of franchise stores in the Republic of Ireland for over two decades. In January, the retailer announced it would be opening its first store in England, having purchased a former 57,000 sq ft Debenhams in Merry Hill to complement its two existing stores in Northern Ireland.
In terms of potential non-retail occupiers, gym operators like PureGym have also been named as mulling potential moves for some of the units – although planning permissions and the cost of fitting out the old units may scupper its plans.
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