The British Independent Retailers Association is warning that high street retail is still under ‘considerable pressure’ despite new figures from the Office of National Statistics suggesting it is in recovery.
Positive data from the ONS has been interpreted to suggest high street trade is improving post-lockdown but Bira CEO Andrew Goodacre says this is misleading.
“Any retail sales growth is driven by food and on-line,” he said. “It is wrong to say that we are returning to normal and the 7,000 job losses announced by M&S are evidence of that.
Footfall levels were still 30-40% down on normal levels, Andrew said, adding: “We need to look at all the figures behind the headlines because growth is being driven by food and on-line purchases.
“With third quarter rents due at the end of September we are concerned that many independent retailer will struggle to make their business model work.
“Twenty per cent could not pay rent in June and could face business closure in the autumn.”
Bira works with more 6,000 independent businesses of all sizes, incuding pet shops that are members of the Pet Product Retail Association.
