SCOTTISH retail chiefs have renewed their call for further diversity to breathe life back into towns after two more shopping centres went into administration.

The Kyle Shopping Centre and the nearby Arran Mall, which are located in Ayr town centre, have been placed in the hands of joint administrators Paul Dounis and Ken Pattullo of rescue and recovery specialists Begbies Traynor.

Both of the shopping centres are owned by Glasgow-based Cairnduff Developments Ayr Limited.

However, the administrators say no jobs have currently been affected and the centres will continue to trade as normal while they consider different strategies to try and improve customer footfall before seeking a buyer.

Paul Dounis, from Begbies Traynor, said: "These shopping centres have suffered from the fall in consumer spending combined with increased competition from other retail venues such as Ayr Central Shopping Centre, Heathfield Retail Park and the Silverburn Mall in Glasgow.

"However, we believe that with their excellent town centre location both the Kyle Centre and the Arran Mall have appeal.

"We will continue to trade the centres while we explore options for improving visitor numbers.

"This includes potentially reconfiguring the Kyle Centre to make it more attractive to shoppers and embarking on discussions with other large space retailers."

Ayr had been the subject of a scheme, Let Ayr Shine, which was created by South Ayrshire Council and Ayr Renaissance to encourage footfall back into the town centre.

Val Russell, chief executive of Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry said: "Both of these particular centres occupy prominent locations in the high street and despite the best efforts of South Ayrshire Council and Ayr Renaissance, Ayr Town Centre is showing little sign of recovery.

"Ayr isn't different from lots of other town centres, and potential purchasers should look at alternative use. It doesn't have to be retail, they are both good town centre locations. We need to be willing to be a bit more innovative on the use of town centres.

"For example, something that would bring more footfall perhaps for the evening economy or opening up the high street to traffic again might really reinvigorate the whole town centre."

Garry Clark, a Scottish Chamber of Commerce spokesman, said there was a need to change the way town centres were defined.

He said: "We need to ensure the model for what our town centres are needs to be more relevant and updated in order to better reflect changing attitudes to how we shop and what we do with our time.

"We need to move away from looking solely at retail, which is where we were 20 or 30 years ago, and more towards diversification and how we can make it easier for town centres to adapt.

"We need to ensure we're not just talking about the nine to five economy, that we look towards the night-time economy as well."

The Scottish Government is undertaking a national review of town centres.

Figures showed more than 10% of stores in Scotland were vacant in January. Many accused the SNP administration of failing to act on business rates, but at the time a spokeswoman for the Government said it was "doing all it can to support the retail sector".