Retail Reopens: How did the first week go?
As the retail sector re-opens in England, we spoke to our Head of Retail Research, Stephen Springham, to hear his take on how the first week went.
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We also spoke to Faisal Durrani, Head of London Commercial Research, about how the serviced office sector is changing amid new demand for flexible space.
Stephen Springham, head of retail research: “I think the best way of look at it is it’s a small step on an unfeasibly long road. So, I have mixed emotions really because obviously on the positive side we want retail to be open and up and running again, but it’s not a case of just flicking a switch and everything going back to normal again. It’s going to be a long time before we see anything that resembles reality. Not all the shops are open yet. It’s hard to gauge exactly. Landlords we spoke to were optimistic that around 70% would open, we thought closer to 50% and anecdotally we would think around 40-50% opened in the first days and obviously that figure is slowly creeping up.”