To think without retail we have to plan what to use our high streets for?

[omygoditsearly]

So retail has been in decline for years, covid has hastened the end of many large stores and changed habits. But we still have the physical infrastructure so what do we want to do with it?
Much retail space pave has been snapped up by property developers to build rabbit hutches but I can't see that working once a high street is gone. I suppose some could be bulldozed and consumed by urban sprawl but then many are older or protected so that would be difficult too. Does any one have any thoughts on how these spaces may be used in the future?

The whole sector will change. The companies that own these empty shops are seeing no return on their investment and presumably are incurring rates? I remember when rates started being charged on empty wharehouses and office blocks, it was cheaper to knock some down and just hold the land as investment. Clearly not on option for many shops but you would think that they would lower rents to encourage small businesses.

@SpiderinaWingMirror

The whole sector will change. The companies that own these empty shops are seeing no return on their investment and presumably are incurring rates? I remember when rates started being charged on empty wharehouses and office blocks, it was cheaper to knock some down and just hold the land as investment. Clearly not on option for many shops but you would think that they would lower rents to encourage small businesses.

A huge amount of retail is "owned" by pensions. They can't afford to lower rents as it messes up their "yields" and would also lead to a crash in retail rental values, affecting all the other properties that are rented out. If a fund owns, say 100 properties, 90 of which are rented at a good yield, it's better for them to accept that 10 are empty and not bringing in money, rather than reducing rents to get those 10 occupied, but by doing that, crashing the rental received on the other 90.