Time to stop looking at the high street with rose-tinted glasses

Homebase’s recent move into administration is another reminder of the ongoing struggles facing UK retailers, particularly on the high street, where another storied name hits the rocks or closes its shutters with alarming regularity.

Given that this sad trend perhaps started with the demise of Woolworths back in 2008, even for someone (just about) still in my twenties, it's easy to feel nostalgic for the days when our high streets were fully occupied with familiar brands, whether that was Debenhams, BHS or Wilko, as opposed to the plethora of charity shops, bookies, vaping stores and hair salons that we are now blessed with.

But instead of mourning the loss of these names, we must stop judging our high streets by the standards of the past and instead move on to whatever the future holds – and looking at our town centres from a different perspective, is crucial to that.

When I moved to Kendal last year, while it’s not exactly Westfield, I appreciated the range of shops and alternative stores that were available, and especially the difference to what I’d been used to. While there’s a limit to how much Kendal mint cake you can purchase, for a medium-sized town, I thought it was a reasonable retail offering.

However, this picture was pretty at odds with what I’d read on the guilty pleasure of the town’s various Facebook groups, with endless lamenting of the demise of the town’s shops and high street, and tales of woe over what used to be.

This made me realise how easy it is to view something negatively when you’ve seen it decline, as opposed to coming at it with fresh eyes. This isn’t being naïve, and retail is uniquely challenged in this way – while a vacant business park can be out of sight and out of mind, you get a depressing daily reminder when you walk past the same shuttered shops every day.

However, unless we all take a vow to never shop online again (one I’m not prepared to take), we have to recognise that the high street as we knew it isn’t coming back. But where disused factories have been dismantled or regenerated into new homes, empty shops present more of a challenge and have a far greater emotional impact.

It’s certainly time to stop judging our town centres by the brands and shops we used to have, and to come up with new uses for what we had. Like any industry, retail is evolving and so instead of wallowing in self-pity we must recognise and lean into this pivotal moment for reinvention.

We’ve all read plenty about the move towards experiential retail, with retailers increasingly embracing a hybrid model, combining in-store experiences with seamless digital shopping. For example, previous online-only brands like Gymshark have opened successful stores on Regent Street, demonstrating how high street stores are becoming more than just places to buy goods -they are transforming into spaces where customers can engage with products, test them out, and experience brands in new ways.

But a couple of high-investment concept stores in prime locations aren’t going to make up for the thousands of closed-down shops in town and city centres across the UK. For example, when Wilko went into administration last year 408 stores closed with it – of which only three have reopened so far.

The retail sector is by no means all doom and gloom – vacancy levels in retail parks are almost at an historic low, with rents in some locations back to 2019 levels or even beyond, and M&S is opening new stores as part of its remarkable turnaround.

Unfortunately though, the success of retail parks in fact has been a further death knell for outdated town centre shopping centres, like the Westmorland Shopping Centre in Kendal. This is now being turned into a new campus for Kendal College – demonstrating the diversity of uses now required for our town centres.

But with local authorities often leading on the regeneration of such shopping centres and facing unprecedented financial challenges, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to get these regeneration projects off the ground and private sector partners are going to be required. Even then it won’t be easy, as the uncertain future for British Land and ADIA’s regeneration of Slough town centre illustrates.

The days when every storefront was a traditional shop are gone. For our high streets to have a viable future we need to let go of what we think they should look like, and instead embrace and commit to a new future. It’s time to stop complaining on Facebook and instead start using these new cafes, co-working hubs, fitness studios, art galleries and more that are beginning to take up more space in town centres. It’s the only way to ensure the high street remains a vital, thriving part of our towns and cities for years to come.