Aberdeen's High Street pivot: Why empty stores are getting a makeover

The retail reality check

If you think your local mall looks like a ghost town, you’re not tripping—one in eight storefronts across British High Streets are currently sitting vacant. The combo of online shopping and out-of-town retail parks has been a major L for the traditional high street. Experts from Revo and Lambert Smith Hampton suggest that across the country, we have 20% to 40% more retail space than we actually need, meaning the old model is basically cooked.

The Aberdeen experiment

Aberdeen, Scotland, is taking a major stand against the decay of its iconic 'Granite Mile,' Union Street. After the city’s flagship Marks & Spencer closed last August, a community-led coalition called Our Union Street—led by former FTSE 100 CEO Bob Keiller—stepped in.

They are running this like a startup, not a local government project. The team is hyper-focused on:

• Auditing: Tracking down absent or offshore landlords to figure out exactly why units are empty.
• Incentivizing: Offering council fit-out grants and two-year discounts on business rates to lower the barrier to entry for new tenants.
• Small wins: Volunteers are literally scrubbing graffiti and picking up litter to shift the city’s vibe and boost civic pride.

Is it working?

Real talk: it’s a grind. When the project started in 2023, 57 of the 198 units on Union Street were empty. Since then, they’ve filled 33, with 14 more in the pipeline. It’s like a game of whack-a-mole—20 new units went vacant in that same time—but they are officially filling them faster than they are opening up. They're also pivoting toward the 'experience economy,' bringing in food markets and culture spaces instead of just relying on old-school retail.

Why it matters

High streets are the main character of a city’s identity. When they fail, it creates a vicious cycle of anti-social behavior and disinvestment that’s hard to reverse. As experts like Iain Nicholson point out, the 'market' alone won't fix these vacancies. Whether through community groups or new government 'High Street Rental Auctions' that can force landlords to lease empty units, towns are having to get aggressive to survive. If you want a walkable, thriving neighborhood, these massive structural shifts in how we use city space are the only way forward.