The large rise in vacant shops in Spalding over the last six years is in line with other towns, those behind a survey have said.
The fact that only 18 per cent of local people’s wages were being spent in the town, came from the minutes of a Spalding Town Board meeting held in August where the results of a ‘Retail and Leisure Study’ carried out by JDM Consulting were presented.
Though this paper asked for more details, none were sent until two days after we’d gone to press.
The district council says the full report can’t be published for commercial reasons, but has provided a summary. It states that the calculation is based on open shop floor space and that before the COVID-19 lockdowns the figure of unused space was at just two per cent.
It’s now risen to the 14 per cent figure, but the council say that’s less of a rise compared with Peterborough (22.7 per cent), Boston (22.8 per cent) and Wisbech (15.1 per cent.
The document states: “The loss of comparison goods floorspace is reflective of the structural changes to the UK’s retail landscape.
“Many retailers have reduced their store footprint to focus more on e-commerce, and/or have relocated stores to out-of-town retail schemes that are more conveniently accessed by car.”
It continues: “Spalding town centre occupiers generate a total £117.8m sales from the 229 assessed retail and leisure occupiers. This equates to 551,230sq ft of occupied floorspace and an average sales density of £214, which is reasonable for a town of this size.”
The highest sales densities were in Market Place and Hall Place, the survey said, while groceries made up 40 per cent of all retail sales in the town from just 20 per cent of its floorplace.
Jewellery and watches were the next highest sales densities.
In addition to the 18.3 per cent of estimated £1.6bn ‘leisure spend’ Spalding residents spend in town, the next highest per centage was at Springfields (10.4 per cent) followed by both Peterborough and Bourne (both 8.2 per cent).
In total, the town centre attracts £292.3m in potential retail expenditure says the report, though Springfields attracts 51 per cent more.
“Town centre residents are adequately catered for, but there is less to attract the affluent shoppers in the wider catchment area,” the report concludes.
