Have a place retail trade and keeping it open is becoming increasingly complex in the Valencian CommunityThis has become even more evident after the last five years, marked by the covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine, among other challenges. The latest data presented in the ‘2023 Commercial Distribution Report’ prepared by the Pateco Office, the Valencian Community Consell de Cambres and the Generalitat illustrate this and show that: Almost all of the commercial areas in the autonomous region, with the exception of the municipalities of the city of Castelló and nearby regions, have lost their outlets since 2017. Those most affected are the most traditional branches of activity.
Specifically, the number of autonomous facilities has decreased by almost 4% in five years. We rise from 62,467 in 2017 to 60,046 resisting at the end of 2022. More than 1,000 outlets collapsed in Valencia and its metropolitan area alone, the area with the largest number of businesses. As the director of the Pateco Office explained to this newspaper: Agustín Rovira, what is happening is a process of “adaptation”. But he does not interpret this fact in a negative way, as “its size is increasing, which means there will be more employees.” Before going any further, The number of self-employed workers in the Valencian retail trade decreased by 3,271 workers since 2019, while the volume of employees increased by 5,572 people; The companies that grew the most were those with 10 or more employees.
It is also a concentration due to higher turnover or non-slowing activities. Amidst the tourism ‘boom’ experienced by the autonomy, tourism was one of the sectors that grew in the number of businesses. Accommodation industry has 1% more businesses compared to 2012 despite overall decline.
As Rovira emphasizes, the restaurant industry, where large chains are increasingly located in cities, “is growing just like real estate, which fell from 2014 to 2020 (that is, after the crisis and economic crisis that started in 2008).” real estate bubble). The other side of the coin is The “decline of traditional retail outlets, such as fashion or shoe stores”, whose shutters are increasingly being pulled down forever.
Shopping malls do not stop
Pateco’s report also goes beyond retail shows another reality when it comes to large surfaces. Not for nothing, unlike what happened decades ago, when the density of these settlements per 1000 citizens is much higher than that of Spain as a whole, the number of centers opening their doors to autonomy is not increasing. This was also confirmed by Rovira, who stated: Since 2018, “the number of centers has remained stable as many have been remodeled, although the surface area has increased.” Despite this situation, he does not dare to claim that the “peak” has been reached. but this low rate of openings is more related to the fact that “we already have a very mature and very distributed offering.”
Although pre-pandemic records have not yet been reached, the recovery of social life and events has led citizens to increase their consumption of entertainment and care. According to the Pateco report, fashion, shoes and travel are among the items where average spending per household increased the most compared to the previous year. “We found that the customer values his well-being and health more,” says Agustín Rovira, noting that the increasing use of some services such as “gyms, hairdressers or sports-related services” is in this direction. On the other hand, the goods where spending lost momentum were the purchase of vehicles (-15.4%) or furniture and household equipment (-11%).