Keeping retail standing is a team game

Reports of retail’s demise continue to be the go-to headline in the commercial property press. Characteristic of these reports is the general sense that retail isn’t doing enough, but this isn’t quite true. Retail is not failing, and its weaknesses aren’t self-inflicted. The causes of suffering for retail areas – those issues that flare vulnerabilities the most – often originate outside the sector itself.

Keeping retail standing requires shared responsibility over coordinated approaches to the physical spaces it relies on. People still want and need in-person retail, but thriving retail destinations are multi-factorial – it isn’t retailers alone who attract, drive and maintain success.

A test of endurance and audience

In-person retail is essentially a series of trials and tests. You have to ask the right questions to figure out how schemes are working and how to get them working well. Even more critical is to consider who exactly they are working for.

People enjoy and use retail in all its forms, so there is no single equation to apply that will increase footfall. Successful retail models involve careful consideration of the people who actually intend to use the facilities. But gathering the data necessary to build this blueprint can be a daunting process if it’s only weighing on retailers’ shoulders.

Beyond retailers providing information on footfall and spending habits, landlords, councils, industry bodies and even prospective tenants are all indispensable informants of the re/planning process. Delivering properly integrated schemes and innovative, relevant retail experiences that can grow alongside social need and economic change requires strategic collaboration from the ground up. But retailers cannot do this alone, and they shouldn’t have to either.

Mutual dependencies

The reason why collaboration is so vital is not hard to pin down. Retail does not operate in isolation; it is part of a network of infrastructure that holds each other up. While it is true that successful retail development is a combination of well-tuned, consumer-oriented offerings, there are so many other critical factors at play and that fall outside of the control of shopfronts.

Retail relies on strong transport connections, sufficient residential areas and the presence of professional properties such as offices and hotels. A more resilient retail sector requires the existence of these catalysing factors, which when working together can see real improvement come to fruition. Lively retail spaces are rarely self-sustaining, instead being a result of effective place-making. New towns and regeneration projects, such as the Brabazon project and Bristol Temple Island, take into account an array of site features to best guarantee success. These hybrid applications demonstrate the kind of holistic, system thinking around planning that could be applied across the board and truly help retail out.

Making the retail space work

Issues beyond the store are plenty, with it invariably taking a controlled environment to overcome these. But this is exactly why a coordinated approach early on in planning is crucial: the groundwork laid needs to be steadfast. All social, economic and environmental aspects need to be considered and engineered to complement each other to ensure a community is created by and around retail.

The interaction and dependencies of stores with other property stock should be integral to town planning. These properties – offices, hotels, student residences, residential housing – are where immediate and sustained footfall comes from and are also what significantly contribute to the overall image of any area.

A sense of place

Place-making makes headlines, but retail is rarely billed as the lead voice in any town planning room. To see retail on the rise, retailers and their stock providers need to be in the room and get stuck into the conversation. It is through this that joined up, cross-sector collaboration that includes retail as a priority will be enabled.

Addressing wider social and economic factors will help retail schemes survive and, by striking the right balance of leisure, catering and retail, succeed. To secure the future of retail and optimise experiences across generations, all operators, tenants and owners must stay alert to change, responsive to consumer shifts, and ultimately strive to keep retail flexible and relevant.