One in ten shops empty in Huddersfield town centre, one in four in Dewsbury

Sep 9 2010 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Empty shops

The survey said hopes for new store openings were pinned on chains such as Iceland, which plans to open up a further 30 stores this year after opening of 74 outlets in the year to March.

Asda’s purchase of 193 Netto stores will help it expand its smaller store formats – although the deal is being scrutinised by Office of Fair Trading.

However, 2010 has seen some high profile closures. For example, video games retailer Game has announced plans to cut the number of stores from 677 to 550 by the end of 2013.

Mr Hopkinson said: “This data shows vacancy increasing in a majority of centres and – more worryingly – particularly in those centres where the budget and job cuts proposed for the public sector will begin to bite.

“Combined with the increase in VAT in January, this will likely be a double blow for the big retail centres in the North and Midlands particularly.

“So far this year, we have avoided big retail casualties such as Woolworth but it is clear that some continue to struggle – often in the face of increasing online sales.”