The shape of the retail sector has changed beyond all recognition over the last year. Online shopping has enjoyed a protracted boom, while real-world high streets and shopping centers have been in suspended animation.

The truth is that the pandemic-prompted lockdowns have merely accelerated a longstanding trend away from high streets and toward browser windows. In January of 2020, the Centre for Retail Research announced that there were around 50,000 fewer shops on the high street than there were a decade prior. “Some analysts predict it will only get worse” is a prescient line if ever there was one.

Once customers are again free to visit their local high streets, stores will need to readjust to new shopping habits, and to the experience they offer. According to the Redefining Retail Beyond 2020 report from New West End Company, “In future, retailers will need to be entertainers as well as merchants with the lines between shopping and leisure becoming increasingly blurred.”

Novel store format

Shoppers don’t just visit town centers for the best products at the optimal price, but for the experience of visiting their favorite shops, stopping midway through at a café for a chat with a friend. Chains like Waterstones have thrived, in part, because of their remodeling their stores as places to relax and browse in a quiet, almost library-like environment, and because of the introduction of cafes into the stores themselves. These changes might be advertised via the right eye-catching signage.

Community destinations

Certain stores might lead another life as a hub for certain communities. Demonstrations, seminars and book-readings might provide an opportunity to bring communities together in a single place – which might generate footfall, interest, and ultimately revenue for the store.

Diversified offerings

If the current working-from-home practices persist to anything like the extent that many would like them to, then many smaller corner shops and cafes might find themselves unable to survive. Fewer commuters means less trade. Those who aren’t working in a high street, and who aren’t shopping for anything in particular, will need to be given a social or leisure reason to make the trip. That might mean creating more outdoor green space, but it might also mean removing barriers to travel by investing in public transport, or by connecting cycling routes.

Technology

During the pandemic, major high street names have had to adapt to a digital way of doing things. We should expect to see this continue, with an increased synthesis between the offline and online worlds. Augmented reality demonstrates what might be achieved here, as do real-world purchases for digital items. Big name brands like Louis Vuitton had already begun to sell exclusive items for games like League of Legends, and given that the market for microtransactions in games is worth billions each year, it’s likely that this collaboration between high streets and online gaming will only continue to develop.