Who Said Retail Is Dead?

Keen followers of Richard Lionel & Partners will have noticed that, over the last few months of 2020, we continued marketing and letting retail units on High Streets throughout London, despite the precarious times we were living through.

Which shops did we let in 2020?

Richard Lionel & Partners let shops in Kensington, Golders Green and Willesden in the last months of 2020:

• 160 Kensington Church Street, let to Natalia Picariello, the Russian/Italian fashion designer who founded her brand in Moscow in 2001. Her dresses are worn by numerous Russian media personalities and singers and regularly feature on television and in fashion magazines. She took this unit to expand her business further, despite the challenges we read about daily in the UK media.
• A retail unit in Golders Green, North West London, let to a local butcher.
• A retail unit in Willesden, waiting to exchange in the week of 14 December 2020.

Why were local retailers taking shops in 2020?

To secure preferential rents and lease terms. Whilst there was of course serious concern, and many large retailers with flagship stores in tourist locations were closing units in the centre of London, a plethora of local retailers were using this time to negotiate preferential rents and lease terms in the suburbs, which would surely boost local high streets once again.

What did Landlords need to do?

Take a pragmatic view. Letting shops in 2020 was only possible because Landlords were willing to let Tenants trade by agreeing affordable terms, with the caveat that rents may rise, if justified, when the first rent review is due, which in many cases is not for another five years (what decides the rent at a review).

Is the high street dead?

Not in our experience. There are doomsayers predicting Armageddon on the High Street, however our experience demonstrates that willing Landlords and Tenants do still exist, and in December 2020 we at Richard Lionel & Partners were looking forward to 2021 with many more lettings, rent reviews and lease renewals, proving that the High Street is very much alive and kicking!