FIVE stores a week closed across Scotland in the first six months of the year as retailers struggled with the "relentless" advance of online shopping.
A total of 121 shops owned by multiple retailers shut down, while only 95 opened between January and June. Only Perth and Edinburgh saw an increase in the number of shops, with both cities gaining one extra shop in that time when compared with the first half of 2014.
But Falkirk suffered the biggest loss of nine stores while Glasgow has seven fewer shops.
Coffee shops, charity shops and takeaway outlets were among those growing at the fastest rate while cheque cashing, banks and fashion retailers all suffered.
The figures were compiled by PwC which said the high street was feeling the continuing impact of the growth in online retailing.
Martin Cowie, head of private business at PwC in Scotland, said: “The digital revolution impacting our high streets shows no sign of abating; consumers continue to adopt newer digital channels, mobile technologies and smartphone apps as they become available while younger ‘digital natives’ are developing a different type of relationships with traditional outlets than previous generations.
“It’s becoming increasingly likely that the high streets of the future will be based around immediate consumption of food, goods and services or distress or convenience purchases.
"It might not be what many consumers want but the data and business economics are pointing in that direction at the moment."
Mr Cowie said landlords were also being hit by the "tug of war between 'clicks' and 'bricks'", with renewal rates on leases dropping significantly over the past decade.
He said: "As a result of this ongoing trend, multiple retailers are more likely to approach town centre openings very cautiously.
"This is likely to mean shorter-term leases and more temporary pop-up type formats, particularly during high footfall periods such as Christmas and major city centre festivals and in secondary locations."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel