Retail Reopens: How did the first week go?

We also spoke to Faisal Durrani, Head of London Commercial Research, about how the serviced office sector is changing amid new demand for flexible space.

Stephen Springham, head of retail research: “I think the best way of look at it is it’s a small step on an unfeasibly long road. So, I have mixed emotions really because obviously on the positive side we want retail to be open and up and running again, but it’s not a case of just flicking a switch and everything going back to normal again. It’s going to be a long time before we see anything that resembles reality. Not all the shops are open yet. It’s hard to gauge exactly. Landlords we spoke to were optimistic that around 70% would open, we thought closer to 50% and anecdotally we would think around 40-50% opened in the first days and obviously that figure is slowly creeping up.”