Unlike the 1960s, shopping centres no longer offer the glamour of US suburban malls to UK town and city centres they once did.
A new era of shopping centres has come in to play, whether it be the new Westfield Centres in Shepherd's Bush and Stratford in London or the rebirth of the once-derided Bull Ring in Birmingham.
Whilst these huddles of business and economic activity are succeeding, generally speaking, the growth of online shopping, and other societal changes are massively shifting the market. Leaving the industry looking at an ever more uncertain future.
A report from the analyst Nelson Blackley cautioned that more than 200 UK shopping centres were in danger of falling into administration. He also reported that footfall across shopping centres is mostly down by 2.5% to 3%, but only by 1% at the prime locations.
With the recent reports surrounding Marks and Spencer and Debenhams, stores that have always been considered highstreets staples, a growing concern is the shift to e-commerce, which inevitably leads to a loss of employment.
The question is will we have shopping centres in a decade to come?
