Paperchase adds to London's long list of empty shop spaces

ON A chilly day this week at a Enfield shopping centre there were plenty of clothing retailers to visit, but there was one large vacant shop with a “unit to let” sign in the window.

- Joanna Hodgson

This space was once home to a buzzing north London Topshop branch popular with local fashion-loving millennials, and new data shows it is just one of hundreds of stores in Great Britain currently empty following three high-profile retail casualties.

The figures, published today, could send a shiver down the spines of some Paperchase landlords preparing for the stationery retailer to exit 106 stores and concessions within the next two months, resulting in the loss of 900 jobs.

Research compiled for the Evening Standard by the The Local Data Company found 19 out of 167 BHS stores are not reopened, 59% (262) of Topshop owner Arcadia’s 441 sites are empty, and nearly half (48.5%) of Debenhams’ 169 shops are still vacant. Those retail businesses respectively shut their doors for the last time in 2016 and 2021.

Hayley Kennedy, analyst at The Local Data Company, says: “Due to the prime location of many of these stores on High Streets and in shopping centres, these units are often subject to higher operational costs, meaning historically many smaller brands and independent retailers have been priced out of taking on these sites.