The Guardian and Daily Mail have reported on research showing that a record number of shops disappeared from high streets across the country in the first half of 2020

A total of 11,120 chain store outlets closed between January and June 2020 Nationally, the number of people going through the doors of shops, pubs and restaurants fell by 3.1 percent last week compared to the week before.

The decline in shoppers and shop closure data reflects a crisis on the high street that has cost thousands of jobs.

Yorkshire and the Humber recorded the biggest loss of chain stores in percentage terms, with a net 3.4 percent of outlets disappearing, compared with 2.2 percent in the east of England.

The reports highlight that more than half of Christmas gifts are expected to be bought online this year – up from 31 percent last year.

Delivery industry experts fear the courier and postal system will struggle to cope with the surge while supermarkets are unlikely to have enough delivery slots, affecting hard-to-reach communities the most.

Full articles:

The Guardian - Record number of shops close with worse yet to come, warn analysts

Daily Mail - Merry Clickmas! More festive shopping to be done online than on high streets for the first time this year in further blow to 'ghost town' centres

Daily Mail - High street shopper numbers fall for a fourth straight week as new tier-system begins with 30% less people heading to city centres than in 2019