One of Edinburgh's most iconic streets has been said to be in danger of becoming a "shopping desert" as many prime retail units lie vacant.
Known to have once been the place to go when it came to shopping in the capital, Princes Street housed multiple department stores as well as many thriving shops.
However, in recent years the castle-facing street has seen a very different outlook, with an array of long-standing stores packing up and leaving for good.
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Now, the high-street appears as a mixture of major names who have survived the pandemic, as well as tourist gift shops and empty units littered with 'to-let' signs, reports the Record.
With similar changes seen in other major Scottish cities such as Glasgow and Aberdeen, David Lonsdale of the Scottish Retail Consortium said: “Many of our traditional flagship high street retail destinations have been battered by the pandemic and the galloping cost of living.
“Shopper footfall is recovering but remains an eighth below pre-pandemic levels. Train strikes have made it worse, having a destabilising impact on retail and hospitality.”
In Edinburgh, Next and Gap once had multiple stores on Princes Street. Now, Gap is online only while Next is in the new St James Quarter mall. Department stores such as Forsyths were taken over by Topshop. Now that Topshop is no more, its vast, ornate building is being repurposed as hotels and restaurants.
Terry Levinthal, of the capital’s Cockburn Association, said its decline as a shopping destination mirrored changes in the retail industry.
“Princes Street has been in decline for decades,” said Mr Levinthal. “Its demise is tied to the demise of traditional high street traders. Retailers who didn’t innovate were overtaken by the digital innovators.”
Unlike other cities, Edinburgh is an international tourist destination. Many of the abandoned retail units in Princes Street have already been turned into food and drink businesses or visitor attractions.
The branch of Frasers at the west end of the street is now the Johnnie Walker Experience. The city council has relaxed planning laws to allow more restaurants and hotels on the street, which used to be reserved for retail only.
Levinthal worries that this strategy might hollow out Princes Street. He said: “It makes sense for hotels to use space on upper floors and exploit the views.
“But hotel foyers, bars and restaurants are not used by the public in the same way as retail space. They change the structure of the street.
“If you fixate on the tourist economy, you forget about the resident economy. A great city needs to be great to live in as well as to visit.”
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