There are stark warnings for the future of our high street shops as we move into 2025.
The perfect storm faced by retailers since the onset of Covid, now almost five years ago, shows little sign of abating.
While it was encouraging to see so many out in our town and city centres in the run-up to Christmas, years of forced closures, transport strikes, rising costs in rent and products, matched with the onslaught of online shopping, have conspired against survival.
In 2024, Belfast dealt with further issues over transportation, with the city centre often gridlocked, putting off many shoppers.
Even the pausing of roadworks around the city centre did little to ease woes.
While the big-name stores are in a position to absorb the effects, life is a struggle for independent retailers who do not have that more robust business chain to fall back on.
Retail NI’s Glyn Roberts said the traditional busiest shopping day of the year — the Saturday before Christmas — had been “a good day”, with many drawn in by the Christmas market at Belfast City Hall which offers something different in the festive period.
And while heartened by that, the reminder is that Christmas comes but once a year. There will need to be many more good days if more of our city centre shops are not to join over 13,000 across the UK that closed for good in 2024.
Belfast city centre
The Christmas rush will also dry up for pubs and nightclubs now that the party season is over and a long, dark January sets in.
Clouding the future even further is the double blow to retailers of higher National Insurance contributions and higher wages. If the money flowing in doesn’t match that flowing out, simple economics show business is only going to go one way, and that will be to the detriment of all.
What it means for the likes of Belfast is that new thinking is required. Initiatives to get shoppers and diners out of their homes and into the city. Belfast has to become more attractive, it has to have a public transportation system that’s fit for purpose.
But there is also an onus on the public. There is little point in sitting at home bemoaning the fact that high streets are becoming more like ghost towns than shopping paradises if there’s a reluctance to actually go to these stores.
Measures to improve public transport, efforts to clean up the city centre, a serious look at car parking charges. All must be on the agenda if we are to protect our shops.
They’re not just for Christmas.