Empty shops and shops closing.

[fuzzymoon]

At some point do you think that rates and rents will be reduced to try to keep shops open and encourage others to open.

Surly a premises trading and the landlords and government getting half the income is better than the shop closed with no income being made.

Would this benefit the economy? Income generated for them will be lower but less people will be unemployed.

I understand landlords and government need / want to make as much income as possible however they are getting none with an empty shop or business premises.

I live in Australia and in my nearest city, the council gives new retailers 6 months free rent with a potential for longer depending on how well they do.

They also support them in opening but the shop owner has to do decorating and pay utilities etc.

As a result we have loads of amazing little shops, bars and cafes.

I read somewhere recently that what we can expect to see is more ‘change of use’ applications to convert vacant retail units to housing. So town centres become more residential as we are still facing housing shortages and let’s be frank, don’t need any more betting shops, charity shops or coffee shops.

Empty shops are only rates exempt for 6 months.

We’re lucky in our local town no empty shops and as soon as one closes its let pretty much immediately so it’s not an issue but see the problem in a larger town near by. In lots of towns there’s just too many shops maybe some need to be converted to other things.