The last time I went down Sauchiehall Street I was struck by the amount of retailers who had moved out.
All retailers are suffering at the moment, which means they are looking at everything they can do to cut costs and increase sales.
If you have looked at what's been happening on the high street in recent years, we have seen a number of full-on bankruptcies and an increase in pre-pack administrations among even major shops.
What that means is retailers are looking at each outlet on a site-by-site basis and seeing if it makes sense for them. Some are suffering even at the most central sites and are asking if it makes sense for them to be there. That has led to a real pull-out from towns across Scotland.
In Glasgow city centre there is an overabundance of shopping sites that are not in the right place or of the right quality. Retailers are seeing this and have moved to more upmarket areas such as the Buchannan Galleries or the St Enoch centre.
Areas like Sauchiehall Street are not as popular as they were and it makes sense for retailers to be where they can maximise their footfall and capitalise on the most shoppers – even if they have to pay more rates to do so.
Leigh Sparks is Professor of Retail Studies at the University of Stirling
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