BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Figures published this week have indicated that 25,000 shops closed between January and September this year – amounting to 10 per cent of retailers, according to the Local Data Company.
In a survey of 251,462 firms across 705 centres across the UK found 25,090 had closed, with 7,628 in London alone. According to the survey’s statistics 11.2 per cent of the closures were ‘sports, toys, cycle shops and hobbies’ stores.
The proportion of closures matches that predicted by global business services firm Experian earlier this year. However, the company told BikeBiz that cycle dealers were not likely to be most at risk from store closures.
The British Property Federation (BPF) has called for greater government help for retailers, particularly concerning a planned increase in business rates based on property values on April 1st 2008. Critics have also chided the Government for the ’empty property tax’ – which have been described as ‘cack-handed’ by Conservative regeneration spokesman Stewart Jackson.
The ACT has also proposed a number of measures to help independent retailers ahead of the Pre-Budget Report.
