As Covid-19 restrictions ease and shops reopen, the measures required to combat the spread of the virus will fundamentally alter the experience of shopping.

People are being encouraged to shop alone and to avoid handling products, for example, while the advice is that fitting rooms remain closed. So many may wonder what’s to be gained by venturing out when they can buy what they need online.

It is highly unlikely that there will be a significant reduction in the online shopping that has occurred throughout – and because of – lockdown. 

This leads to some inevitable questions. What is the immediate future for our town and city centres? What longer term impact will the changes have? And do we plan for that now? In short, do we need to create a new vision?

Space – the new frontier

Before lockdown, retailers were looking at ways to counter online competition by adapting the available space to provide a multi-dimensional, interactive brand experience that would bring shoppers back time and again. In some cases, selling the goods themselves was becoming secondary to the act of visiting the store (sales could take place later or, indeed, online.)

High streets and shopping centres also engaged with this interactive approach, blurring the distinction between retail and public space to encourage visitors to enjoy the wider surroundings.

But given the Government’s new working safely guidelines, it is all but impossible to imagine how such models can easily be restarted.  Social distancing is the antithesis of social interaction.

A way forward – remodelling the centre

Experience and enjoyment remain key. There are perhaps three areas that local authorities in partnership with owners, community groups and businesses might explore to develop the concept of the town and city centre as a space to be enjoyed.

• More space – not less
  This is not a plea to demolish buildings, but to rethink how we can reuse the space that we already have.  Perhaps the single biggest opportunity for change is to rethink the way we use roads and pavements. Widening pavements is one quick and easy solution – but other options include removing kerbs and similar demarcations between the road and pavement. Taking away roadside fencing where the intention is to shepherd pedestrians to safe crossing points would allow people to move more freely across roads. 
  
  Such changes might mean having to make other regulatory alterations, such as reducing the speed limit or banning traffic between certain hours. The permanent closure of certain roads might reduce the overall impact of traffic in a centre as a whole, as well as having immediate environmental improvements for users on the now vehicle-free route.
  
  Removing traffic from roads – either temporarily or permanently – creates opportunity. Walking becomes more comfortable and enjoyable, but the space can also be used for markets stalls and independent food and beverage sellers, including start-up businesses and domestic-scale providers. 
  
  There might also be opportunities to create new small-scale squares and meeting places. This might lead to a move away from the concept a single high street or shopping centre to a more dynamic arrangement of smaller locations responding quickly to changes in customer needs and expectations. 
  
  Planning policies would need to adapt to enable investors and owners to react with greater flexibility as to the nature and use of their land and buildings.  Perhaps the time has come to overhaul the Use Classes Order and bundle together the whole collection of town centre activities into one all-encompassing Town Centre Use Class. 
  
  

Embracing technology

There are numerous possibilities here. Consistent with the theme of this blog, however, might be for local authorities and businesses to work together to explore how to bring the insides of their shops, cafés and restaurants outside.  Consumers could now browse for goods perhaps while relaxing in the new squares and spaces created from recently closed roads. 

Café and restaurant owners could deliver food and drink to nearby – and not so nearby – customers using the same principle of home delivery that is now a major feature of the fast food and take-away market generally.   

At a simpler level, local authorities might consider providing more access points for power and water to allow providers to install small shops and stalls easily. 

The key here is to for businesses to collaborate with local authorities to enable both parties to understand the different types of technology that could be used to support service providers in continuing to interact with their customers, in locations away from the buildings themselves. 

Bringing online in town

New areas could be set aside as collection points where customers can pick up goods ordered online – either from their home or office, or while they have been out in the town or city centre. Such collection points could give customers the option of having their own storage facility for the day. Goods could be delivered by a variety of retailers that the customer may have visited – either actually or virtually – all of which can be gathered up at the end of the visit. 

Retailers could also work collaboratively so that they share facilities, reducing the need to store goods in their shops. 

Further information

Contact Savills Planning