Due to a number of causes, of which online shopping is one, shopping areas in city centres are in danger of becoming less lively. That is a shame, not only for entrepreneurs, who are losing turnover. If the function of the city centre as a lively, warm meeting place disappears, this will be a loss for many people. You can say what you want about shops, for example that they have a negative influence on historical city centres with their signs. But shops clearly also contribute positively to city centres. The success of physical shops is an important aspect for maintaining lively city centres, because shops are important crowd pullers.
In this article I will discuss the extent to which online shopping threatens physical shopping areas. I will then explain how vacancy in shopping areas in city centres and the resulting reduction in the attractiveness of city centres is and can be combated. The approach I propose is user-centric, focused on cooperation between all stakeholders and on the “experience” of the visitor.
Increasing numbers of vacant shops
Shopping behaviour in the Netherlands has changed significantly in recent years. This is partly caused by the rise of internet shops. The number of purchases via the internet is increasing rapidly and has reached a market share of around 10 percent of purchases (8.3 billion euros) in non-food retail in the Netherlands, according to Cor Molenaar in his book “ The End of Shops? ” from 2011. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years.
This shift in shopping behaviour has taken its toll on the streetscape. The vacancy rate of shops is very visible in some city centres in the Netherlands. On average, the vacancy rate of shops in Dutch provinces was 6% according to Locatus ( Key figures on Dutch Retail, 2011 ). The provinces of Limburg and Zeeland are the least rosy, with a vacancy rate of 9% and 7.6% respectively. In a number of cities in these regions, the vacancy rate is already above 15%.
A the increasing number of argentina phone number list internet purchases. The crisis plays a role, of course, in some municipalities on the edges of the Netherlands there is a shrinking population and a strong ageing population, but municipalities themselves also contribute to the problem. They have increased the number of square metres of retail space considerably in recent years. Retail space brings in a lot of money compared to office and residential space. A considerable part of the new retail space has been realised in the large shopping centres outside the city centres.
The fact that people are increasingly choosing to shop online and in large shopping malls outside the city is partly the fault of the shopping areas in city centres. Parking problems and costs, limited opening hours, dilapidated shopping streets due to vacancies and the lack of surprise due to large numbers of national chains, all contribute to the declining popularity of shopping in physical stores.
At first glance, this seems like an irreversible process that will have an unfavourable effect on shopping areas in city centres. If nothing is done, a vicious circle threatens to arise. Due to vacancy, parking problems and limited opening hours, a city centre becomes increasingly unattractive to shoppers, which results in more vacancy, which results in even fewer visitors, and so on.
But there is hope for shops, and therefore for shopping areas and city centres. For many people, shopping is a form of recreation. If shopping areas succeed in limiting the above-mentioned disadvantages as much as possible and making optimal use of the advantages that physical shops offer, the doomsday scenario outlined can be avoided. Shops can then continue to contribute to the lively character of city centres.