“There's no doubt that the British High Street has taken a battering over the last few years. Not only have retailers had to contend with Covid, but Brexit and now the ongoing cost-of-living crisis have decimated the high street as we know it. In 2021, PWC reported that 17,500 chain stores closed in 2020 alone. Now with many high streets focused on recovery, consumers want something new. “

Fiona Carter, Sales Consultant Stylist at Selfridges, describes the new state of play in retail. “What is unmistakable is that customers have missed the human experience of shopping and the unique emotional interactions — this is true for our local independent shops, as well as large retailers. In the first few days many customers came in just to say ‘Hello’. This proves no amount of digital photography can replace the face to face, in person experience of speaking to retailers and connecting with their product.”

The online fashion retailer Boohoo has purchased the Debenhams brand and website for £55m. However, the agreed deal will still put up to 12,000 jobs at risk— with Boohoo stipulating that they only wanted the labels, not the Debenhams high street units. This poses yet another threat to the survival of traditional bricks-and-mortar retail in the UK. At Fashion Roundtable we are incredibly concerned to hear of the continued loss of fashion retail jobs—an unemployment situation that will disproportionately affect women due to the higher number female retail workers.

As New York Fashion Week approaches, the landscape of American fashion faces the most turbulence compared to any other of the fashion capitals. From Tom Ford now opting to show his latest collection in Los Angeles, to the bankruptcy of beloved Barneys after almost a century in the retail business.

The APPG for Textiles and Fashion will join policy leaders, retailers, and academics to discuss how to navigate the changing retail environment. The retail sector experienced a harsh 2018, marked by closures, fall in spending and a shift to the online shopping space. Government, media and organisations were quick to respond, with the Housing, Communities and Local Governments Committee launching and concluding an inquiry into the High Streets and Town Centres in 2030. 

The High Streets and Town Centres 2030 report was the conclusion of an inquiry led by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee of the House of Commons. Town centres and the shopping experience have been reinvented with the next day deliveries, free returns and the comfort on not leaving your house, provided by online stores. This, combined with changing demographics, the trend of moving away from small towns to cities and the domination of chain commerce (how many Costa coffee’s do you walk past on your way to work?) has prompted a massive shift in the usage and scope for town centres and high streets to survive (and thrive )as our shopping habits change.

The Committee’s inquiry sets out to understand the role of high streets and city centres in sustaining social, cultural and economic health to local communities, and to evaluate the impact of the changing high streets on these.

The British Retail Consortium recently published figures show a further 0.7% drop, year on year, of tough retail trading.

This continued pressure on our retailers has led to a dramatic change in landscape on our local High Streets. Having lived in the same area of North London all my life, I have witnessed the slow demise of the independent retailer, squeezed out by pernicious rents, online shopping and unreasonable competition from retail chains.

The demise of this one time giant of the high street is sad but somewhat understandable as the brand has not been able to find relevance in the drift from brick and mortar to omniretail, it’s also struggled to tap into growing markets without isolating its base consumer. Retail and the uk will ultimately bounce back but we as other countries are having an identity crisis in our department store models, that rapidly needs to be updated.

Retail roles were once ‘a golden ticket’ offering stability, flexible hours and proper holidays. Now huge job losses are hitting female employees hardest. Article by Poppy Noor, originally published on The Guardian.

“part community, part retail. We aspire to challenge ideas of the past, so that we can clear the path for a bright, beautiful future - together. ” 

It is widely acknowledged that the retail sector is going through a period of generational change and every retailer’s response will be different. For the partnership, the focus is on greater differentiation – not scale,” A spokesperson for John Lewis said in a recent statement.