The number of shops facing closure has dropped to its lowest level since 2010.
According to research compiled by the Local Data Company for PwC, an analysis of 67,521 chain stores – accounting for those with more than five national outlets – across 500 town centres in Great Britain showed that there were 2564 store closures during the first six months of the year.
The number of closures outstripped the 2342 shop openings during the first half of the year, but at an average of 14 store closures per day this represented the lowest number of closures since 2010.
The net difference between closures and openings has also “shrunk significantly” to 222 stores, compared to the net loss of 503 stores in the first half of 2016, and is the smallest figure since the same period in 2013 when 209 more stores closed than had opened.
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