-KA. Photo by Kirsty Anderson Throughout this pandemic we have been making assumptions about how life would change and chief amongst those has been the view that in the post pandemic era activity would move away from city centres and out to smaller towns and local neighbourhoods. City centres would struggle to recover fully from the battering they have taken and broadly the bigger the city the greater the long-term damage would be. With the re-opening of non-essential shops and hospitality we will soon be able to assess some of those assumptions against hard evidence. Having spent Saturday afternoon in Glasgow city centre my first impressions were encouraging. To quote one Chamber retail member, the ‘town was very busy and the city centre was buzzing’. Small queues gathered outside several shops and one or two beer gardens were especially popular. The young were out in large numbers.
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image captionShoppers flocked to Glasgow city centre on Saturday
Scotland s retail body has hailed the first week of reopening a success after a four-month-long winter lockdown.
The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said Scotland had performed better than stores in England and Wales after opening the doors on Monday.
Last Monday saw the return of non-essential shops, gyms and limited hospitality in Scotland, two weeks after England.
However, businesses still want clarity on when restrictions will ease further.
Shoppers queued from early morning when retailers opened up on Monday.
But the big test was how shops and bars would fare over the bank holiday weekend.
David Lonsdale As polling day approaches business is closely following the Holyrood election. The verdict of the country’s spending watchdog on the reality or otherwise of the political parties’ tax and spending plans has certainly caught the eye. The IFS has taken the parties to task over the affordability of their manifestos, which are replete with huge spending commitments but apparently with little sense as to how they might be paid for. This has implications for business, especially if it eventually leads to higher taxes on them or on their customers. With the economic legacy of Covid likely to cast a long shadow over the next five-year parliamentary term, tax rises could hamper recovery. That makes it even more vital to get the economy motoring quickly and lift the private sector’s growth rate. Even prior to the pandemic Scotland’s economic growth could be described as unspectacular at best.
Shop vacancies at six-year high amid maelstrom wrought by pandemic eveningexpress.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eveningexpress.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The number of empty shops in Scotland has hit a six-year high amid the pandemic, according to industry data.
The Scottish Retail Consortium said the vacancy rate rose to 15.3% in the first quarter of the year, well above the UK-wide average of 14.1%.
That means nearly one in six Scottish shop units is lying empty.
Vacancies were highest in shopping centres at 20.1%, compared with just under 14% for the high street and nearly 13% for retail parks.
Experts suggested shopping centres had been particularly exposed to the effects of the pandemic.
The Local Data Company (LDC), which compiled the figures, said centres had a lower proportion of essential retailing, and were more exposed to categories which were in decline, such as fashion, department stores and casual dining.