It took a leap of faith for Perth gift shop Hell Yeah to turn their footfall around.
But after moving just around five-minutes up High Street, they have kept busy with new customers who did not even realise they had been in the city for over two years.
Perth store manager Claire Gardiner said their old location, past St Paul’s Square, never got as busy as they were expecting.
“We felt like there was a chance for a shop like this to do well,” she said. “We felt it would be a shame to just close and to not keep trying.”
She added: “We just had to weigh up more rent with more footfall.”
The reception for the new store has been “unbelievable” and Claire speaks of Perth’s high streets with optimism: “It might not be as soon as we want but I do believe the units will get filled and it will get a lot busier again.”
And the data shows some reasons for optimism. The vacancy rate of Perth’s high streets is starting to improve after an increase in vacant units at the start of this year.
We have been tracking the health of Perth’s high streets since December last year.
Once again, I got out on foot for the third time to census the nine streets and shopping centre.
It showed the average high-street vacancy rate has improved across Perth since our last census.
But it remains higher than when we started tracking.
The picture today in Perth’s streets
The high street tracker maps out nine streets in Perth – High Street, George Street, St John Street, St John’s Place, South St John’s Place, King Edward Street, South Street, Scott Street (up to the junction with Victoria Street) and South Methven Place.
We also monitor 36 spaces within St John’s Shopping Centre.
Since we began tracking it, there have been no recorded changes in vacancy levels on South St John’s Place.
Despite its location adjacent to the recently opened Perth Museum, its four empty units have remained vacant.
However, it also has the second smallest number of units so just a few changes could turn its vacancy rate around.
The tale of two ends of High Street
Meanwhile, Scott Street has seen its vacancy rate more than double since December. More than a fifth of the street, tracked to the junction with Victoria Street, was vacant in July.
High Street saw its rate change in the opposite direction.
While it had the third highest vacancy rate when we started the tracking project, it is now the second best with a rate of 16.5%.
Hell Yeah’s move did not impact the vacancy rate as their old premises are currently unoccupied, but it did have an “amazing” effect on the business.
“Since moving to this one, I must say more than 10 times a day to people that I was somewhere else before this, and they will all just say ‘oh I don’t go up into that end of town’,” Claire said.
“There is just a lot more at this end of town.
“You have got George Street which is such a popular street with some of the little independents.
“And then the museum has definitely been a big pull. We have got so many tourists.”
George Street has held the title of lowest vacancy rate since February, after the Body Shop shut on the small stretch of King Edward Street.
The average across all Perth high street units has risen since December but has trickled down to 18.3% after reaching 19.7% in June.
St John’s Shopping Centre also improved after the Hairy Highland Coo Trail arrived to Perth.
An empty unit is temporarily housing a hub for the fundraising efforts for Children’s Hospices Across Scotland.
The centre is now 16.7% vacant.
Shopping keeps the crown in Perth
Shopping remains the dominant open business on Perth’s high streets. On average 37.5% of open premises are shops, followed by over a quarter which are food and drink units.
When we first started tracking the streets, only 23.8% of the units fell under our food and drink category.
Only one unit on fully occupied St John’s Place, on the other side of the museum to the most vacant, is not a food and drink unit.
South Street follows with the second biggest proportion of food and drink units filling a third of its open units.
High Street has had two new food and drink units open since the start of the year.
But the main shop subcategory of newly occupied units on the street has been vape shop.
Three have opened on High Street since the beginning of the year. That brings Perth’s total number of the unit up to four on our tracked streets.
What has changed on Perth’s high streets?
There was a total of 14 unit changes in Perth since our last update in March.
That included the closure of New Look on High Street at the start of June.
Our March update brought significantly more changes with 14 closures and seven new units opening.
The latest changes include three newly occupied food and drink units, Aphrodite on George Street, Ice Cloud reopening for peak ice cream season and Acorn Cafe moving into the former Little Bird unit.
Perth’s newest Greek takeaway is run by the owner of Kali Kardia on County Place.
Touch of Poland opening on South Methven Street saw a unit that had been shut for more than a year and a half change its status.
Future changes
Work is also underway to transform the former Campus Sports unit on South Street, but there are no known dates for when the new business will open.
Costa may also be set to take over the former Optical Express unit on High Street after the council granted permission for new signage.
And there are always more changes on the horizon and Claire added about the street: “There are a few units still sitting empty, I heard there are people going into some of them.
“I always think when things like this happen to cities it will always come full circle.”
A further factor in the success has been support from local businesses.
“A really good thing I have noticed from being down at this end, is that all the smaller businesses like us, the indies, have a good sense of community.
“They have all popped in to say hi and they all spend their money here.”
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said its focus is “very much on encouraging investment, shaping development and stimulating discussion about the future of Perth city centre”.
The council highlighted recent initiatives to bring more feet into the centre. Perth’s first ever Cocktail Week and the Hairy Highland Coo Trail are a few examples.
And more people could be brought to the King Edward Street area with a trial of the Fair City Market.
The spokesperson added that the Perth museum welcomed 100,000 visitors since it opened at Easter 2024.
He said: “In the autumn, the Council will be discussing a number of further potential proposals before these go out to wider public consultation.
“All high streets are facing challenges due to changing consumer behaviour and squeezed incomes.
“However, we recognise how important vibrant town and city centres are for our communities.”
We need your help!
All the data in our tracker is collected manually by the data team and reporters in Perth.
Access our Perth high street and shopping centre tracker for the most up-to-date details on the nine areas complete with interactive maps and floorplans.
The tracker is updated whenever there is a confirmed change and after a quarterly census.
But we may still not always spot every change immediately.
If you can help or notice something has changed on Perth’s streets, we would greatly any information you can share.
If there is anything you would like to let us know, please use the form below.
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