Mid-rank centres feel the pinch
Published: 16 June, 2011
Bexleyheath, Southport, Blackpool, Wigan and Maidstone are among the most vulnerable centres according to CACI research
The research house has put out a warning about centres that are most reliant on the “squeezed middle” shoppers, who have felt increasingly nervous about their financial prospects since the 2010 General Election.
The results come in CACI’s annual Retail Footprint study, which analysed three distinct groups a mix of white-collar and skilled-manual workers that straddle the middle-income spectrum - who have shown consistently negative views on their financial prospects over the past 12 months.
CACI researcher Paul Langston said: “These groups live throughout Britain but, where they are found in particular concentrations, the retail centres they use will continue to feel the squeeze; they are the retail centres most at risk from shoppers who continue to watch the pennies.”
By contrast, locations which depend least on these troubled customers are predominantly in central London, and major cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Oxford and Brighton.
