Online shopping: high streets could be turned into residential hubs

With the coronavirus and the lockdown, most consumers have turned towards online shopping for their purchases. This has led to a lot of retail firms experiencing losses and inevitably, various shops have had to close their doors permanently. Following this, there are talks that the high streets could be transformed into residential hubs since there are free spots available now.

The Social Market Foundation (SMF) released a report advancing that this move could create at least 800,000 new homes. The institution argued that “while there is an increase in online sales, the decline of high streets across the UK would not be reversed by policies that attempt to ‘turn the clock back’”. This decrease in sales can also be attributed to the fact that more people are remote working, even if lockdown measures have been eased. Thus, there is not much of a crowd in town and city centres.

Several big names of the retail sector, such as John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Boots and Halfords, have announced that they are planning to close down stores permanently and reduce staff members. As such the SMF advised the government to seek “new and more beneficial uses for town-centre sites”. Empty shops could be demolished or converted into houses.

High street shops may be turned into houses