Scotland’s landmark shopping streets are in danger of becoming “shopping deserts” as retail units empty and upmarket shops pull out.
Along the main shopping thoroughfares in the biggest cities, buildings that used to house the major names in retail are now selling tourist tat, vape liquid and cheap Christmas gifts, while others carry “To Let” signs.
Shoppers hurry by on their way to covered centres – or head in their cars to out of town malls.
In Aberdeen’s Union Street, businesses are so worried that 165 of them held an emergency summit meeting last week. The mile-long strip in the centre of the city has fallen into serious decline with about a quarter of shops sitting empty.
Calls have been made for action to halt the downturn of the so-called Granite Mile. Aberdeen is not alone. All the country’s major shopping areas are struggling to recover from the high street version of Long Covid.
Lockdown closed non-food retailers, mothballed offices and saw consumers do more and more of their shopping online. With many people still working from home, footfall is struggling to return to 2019 levels. Then came the economic downturn, as households look to cut down on their spending.
David Lonsdale of the Scottish Retail Consortium said: “Many of our traditional flagship high street retail destinations have been battered by the pandemic and the galloping cost of living.
“Shopper footfall is recovering but remains an eighth below pre-pandemic levels. Train strikes have made it worse, having a destabilising impact on retail and hospitality.”
We take the temperature of key shopping streets in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen – and ask what needs to be done for them to have a future.
Union Street, Aberdeen
The Granite City has had an extra economic crisis to face – the 2016 downturn in the oil industry meant well-paid workers left the city to find jobs elsewhere. The shoppers who are left prefer the upmarket Union Square mall, leaving Union Street struggling.
Among the empty units there are charity shops near upmarket boutiques and coffee chains by betting shops. The once bustling “granite mile” is a mess. It’s also a far bigger shopping street than the city needs.
According to Ryan Crighton, from Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce: “Counting both sides, that is two miles of retail and restaurants. You would struggle to fill that in Dubai, never mind Aberdeen.”
He stressed that the state of Union Street defines people’s view of the city. He said: “The fortune of Aberdeen rests on what Union Street looks like. Plus, it’s one of the first things visitors see.”
For it to have a future, Crighton says it will need to be clearly zoned. A business district could attract the biggest firms out of industrial parks.
There has already been high-end residential development and more of this will bring life and pride into the street. There’s also a role for student accommodation. A smaller, more focussed retail zone would feel more vibrant.
Crighton said: “Aberdonians do not usually agree but Union Street is a really emotive issue. People all want to see it succeed and thrive. To be what they remember from 20 years ago, the heartbeat of the Granite City.”
Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
Once a bustling shopping mecca, Sauchiehall Street is a shadow of its former self. British Home Stores closed in 2016 and the building remains unused.
Dunnes and Watt Brothers were shuttered before lockdown. Then the street’s branch of M&S closed earlier this year, leaving one of the city’s few original art deco buildings empty.
To make this worse, the block that was fatally damaged by the 2018 fire at Glasgow School of Art remains boarded up. Further towards the city centre there is a gap site where Victoria’s nightclub was demolished after a fire, also in 2018.
Stuart Patrick of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce says that mobile phone data shows people are returning to the city in the afternoons and evenings. This is good news for food and drink businesses. It’s the mornings that are quieter, as shoppers stay away and hybrid workers are on laptops at home.
He said: “We need to repurpose some of these buildings. Retail is not coming back. We need to assess the scale of demand and get the balance right.”
One option for Sauchiehall Street is to rebadge it as an “avenue of the arts”. This would tie together Glasgow School of Art, the Conservatoire, the Theatre Royal, the King’s Theatre, the Pavillion Theatre, the Glasgow Film Theatre and the Centre for Contemporary Arts.
Patrick added: “That could bring new life that’s culture-based. The McLellan Galleries have already been redesigned by the private sector for public use. We have to make the most of the assets that are driving footfall.”
Princes Street, Edinburgh
In Edinburgh’s Princes Street, vast retail units with magnificent views of the castle sit empty. Terry Levinthal, of the capital’s Cockburn Association, said its decline as a shopping destination mirrored changes in the retail industry.
Next and Gap once had multiple stores on Princes Street. Now, Gap is online only while Next is in the new St James Quarter mall. Department stores such as Forsyths were taken over by Topshop. Now that Topshop is no more, its vast, ornate building is being repurposed as hotels and restaurants.
“Princes Street has been in decline for decades,” said Levinthal. “Its demise is tied to the demise of traditional high street traders. Retailers who didn’t innovate were overtaken by the digital innovators.”
Unlike other cities, Edinburgh is an international tourist destination. Many of the abandoned retail units in Princes Street have already been turned into food and drink businesses or visitor attractions.
The branch of Frasers at the west end of the street is now the Johnnie Walker Experience. The city council has relaxed planning laws to allow more restaurants and hotels on the street, which used to be reserved for retail only.
Levinthal worries that this strategy might hollow out Princes Street. He said: “It makes sense for hotels to use space on upper floors and exploit the views.
“But hotel foyers, bars and restaurants are not used by the public in the same way as retail space. They change the structure of the street.
“If you fixate on the tourist economy, you forget about the resident economy. A great city needs to be great to live in as well as to visit.”
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