High Street
The high street remains a vital battleground for pet retailers, balancing in-person service with growing digital competition. Pet Gazette covers the role of independent pet shops, regional chains, and national retailers on UK high streets — reporting on shop openings and closures, rent pressures, footfall trends, and evolving customer expectations. We also examine localised marketing strategies, product merchandising, and how high street stores adapt to omni-channel retail. For wholesalers and suppliers, this tag offers visibility into the challenges and opportunities facing brick-and-mortar stockists across towns and cities.
-
Aug- 2021 -25 AugustRetailers
Footfall dampened by wet weather
Footfall across UK retail destinations fell by -1.7% last week from the week before as wet weather continued to dampen footfall across the nation. According to Springboard, there was a drop of -2.2% in high streets versus more “modest” drops of -1.3% in shopping centres and -1% in retail parks. …
Read More » -
24 AugustRetailers
BPF calls for business rates reform
The British Property Federation (BPF) has called on the government to set out a roadmap to annually revalue business rates in a bid to avoid “crippling” high streets, citing that a business rates reform is “long overdue”. It comes as the government’s Business Rates Revaluations Consultation, proposing to introduce more…
Read More » -
10 AugustCoronavirus
Bira in talks with metro mayors to help retailers post-pandemic
The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has said it is involved in discussions with mayors of UK metropolitan cities to discuss “new ways” of supporting independent retailers post-pandemic. The talks, which are being led by the group’s CEO Andrew Goodacre, have been looking at support for reforms to business rates…
Read More » -
Jul- 2021 -30 JulyCoronavirus
One in seven UK shops still remain vacant, BRC reveals
More than one in seven shops on UK high streets, retail parks and shopping centres are currently vacant, according to the latest data from the Local Data Company and the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The data revealed that fashion stores were amongst the “hardest hit” as customers primarily shifted to online shopping…
Read More » -
13 JulyEconomy
UK retail sales jump 13.1% in June
Total retail sales in the UK increased by 13.1% in June, according to the latest BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor. On a like-for-like basis, the country’s retail sales rose by 17% from June 2019, with non-food reporting a like-for-like sales jump of 47%. In the nation’s high street stores, sales were…
Read More » -
12 JulyTrade Organisations
Footfall flatlines in June
Footfall from shoppers in the UK plateaued despite social distancing restrictions remaining largely the same, according to new data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The latest Footfall Monitor from BRC and Sensormatic found that overall footfall in the UK dropped by 27.6% in June compared to the same month…
Read More » -
Jun- 2021 -29 JuneEconomy
Footfall remains static due to variable weather
Footfall in the UK remained virtually unchanged over the past week due to variable weather conditions across the country, according to data analysts Springboard. For the week beginning 20 June 2021, week-on-week footfall only fell by 0.2%, which represents a 49.3% rise from the same period last year and a…
Read More » -
18 JuneEconomy
Return to restaurants sees retail sales fall by 1.4%
UK retail sales fell by 1.4% between April and May, following a sharp increase in April when retail restrictions were eased, according to data from the Office of National statistics (ONS). The largest contribution to the monthly decline came from grocery stores where sales volumes fell by 5.7% – the…
Read More » -
15 JuneCoronavirus
Lockdown delay ‘huge disappointment for highstreet’, says Bira
Andrew Goodacre, the CEO of Bira, has described the extension of lockdown restrictions as a “huge disappointment for the high street” and called for greater government support for retailers. According to Goodacre, the extension, which will see remaining social distancing measures continue beyond 21 June, will “damage consumer confidence”. In…
Read More » -
11 JuneEconomy
Retail boosted by ‘buoyant’ May sales
The UK’s retail sector in May has been boosted by “buoyant” sales, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Over the period, sales increased by 10% on a year-on-two-years basis, against a decline of 2.7% in May 2019. This represents a rise from the three-month average growth of 8.5%. Due…
Read More »
