And the tills are ringing out for Christmas Day

Last year, big chains such as Toys R Us, Maplin and Poundworld went bust and vanished altogether.

And this year well-known brands such as Thomas Cook no longer grace our high streets and retail parks, while others such as Debenhams and Mothercare have been forced into shutting shops and announcing major redundancies to cope with the changing retail landscape.

Elsewhere, Marks & Spencer is in the midst of plans to close 100 stores to cut costs, while fellow retail giant Tesco announced plans to cut 4,500 jobs in August. Boots confirmed in June that it will close 200 stores in the UK in another blow for the high street.

A seismic shift is taking place in retail. Businesses continue to be hit by pressure from online competitors, consumers reducing spending in the face of Brexit, and high business rates and rents.

New technologies are reinforcing a change in the way we buy things. The internet enables us to shop at home, at work or whilst on the go. It lets us compare prices and view product reviews.

With online shopping predicted to contribute to more than half of the total retail sales in the next 10 years, the difference between the brands that thrive, those that survive and those that fail could come down to their ability to embrace technology and changes in consumer habits.

But responding to the biggest shift in consumer behaviour in a generation takes investment. As the role of physical and digital stores change, retailers must roll out new technology, bring in new expertise, retrain staff and, at the same time, maintain competitive prices.

Professor Heiner Evanschitzky, co-director of Aston Centre for Retail Insights at Aston University, says: "Traditional retailing needs to find its place – and an answer to the online challenge. The majority of sales happen offline; yet, selling at a profit is increasingly difficult, given business rates, discounting and increasing competition.

"Some of the major trends we found through our research are convenience shopping; shopping for experiences and inspiration – the physical product is just one element among others; sustainability of shopping behaviour – consumers are more aware of the negative consequences of their shopping behaviour."

Many high streets across the country have started working towards reinvention, making themselves places of 'destination'.

Today, the public want more than a retail destination, they want a location to meet, to eat and drink, a place for services and experiences, as well as shop. Retailers that can successfully reinvent themselves will reap the rewards through more customers and higher sales.

"High streets can survive if they adapt. They need to become destination, they need to embrace digital services at the high street level and transform into places consumers want to spend time at, says Professor Evanschitzky.

"Consumers seek for inspiration and entertainment. Further, high streets need to become more local, meaning they must offer products, services, experiences that cannot be offered online."

For retailers, Christmas is regarded as their most important trading period – it can make or break their year. And with the high street feeling the pinch as footfall fades, this festive season could be even more significant than usual.

It’s not uncommon for retail profit warnings to come through in January, because if Christmas hasn’t gone to plan it’s a real dent on the full year.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. People will still spend the majority of their money in physical shops, and that means there will be winners as well as losers this Christmas.

Professor Evanschitzky says: "My discussions with retailers clearly show that for some already struggling retailers Christmas is make-or-break; expect some announcements in the new year on further insolvencies, restructuring etc. It is absolutely clear that the Christmas shopping period – starting with Black Friday – is the most important trading period."

In the run up to Christmas many towns offer incentives, such as free parking and extended park and ride services, to encourage more people to visit and do their shopping.

An example of this is Shrewsbury. Seb Slater, executive director of Shrewsbury BID (Business Improvement District), says: “Christmas is a vital time of year for every town centre, so we are keen to do as much as we can to make Shrewsbury as inviting as possible for shoppers.

“Shrewsbury is a magical place to do your Christmas shopping, with hundreds of independent shops to help you find a unique gift, so we would urge everyone to come and visit the town centre before buying gifts online.”

Looking ahead, Professor Evanschitzky expects next year to be another challenging one for the retail industry.

"Consumer confidence will be affected by political and macro-economic events; so far, spending has held up rather well but the level of indebtedness worries me.

"Furthermore, quite a few well-known high street brands are in financial trouble and I’m expecting a few more disappearing from high streets or move online. I also expect some movement towards more sustainable shopping practices – reduce waste, buy local, buy less," he adds.

It is certain that online shopping in the UK will continue to grow rapidly, as consumer shopping trends and convenience continue to shape the retail industry. However, high street retailers must be open to introducing new and exciting in-store experiences to boost footfall and sales, and refrain from placing blame on unpredictable weather, the government and Brexit.

Shrewsbury Shopping Centres

It's been a mixed year for the town's Darwin and Pride Hill shopping centres which were bought by Shropshire Council last year.

Whilst the Darwin Centre has performed relatively well, the Pride Hill Centre has been hit with the high-profile departure of Next in the autumn.

Kevin Lockwood, Shrewsbury shopping centres manager, said: "Shrewsbury shopping centres have performed well this year compared with the national picture.

"Footfall is pretty much on a like-for-like basis in the Darwin Centre, although footfall in the Pride Hill Centre has dropped following the closure of Next at the beginning of September.

"Footfall since the Christmas lights switch on on November 20 is up on last year in the Darwin Centre which is encouraging, with retailers commenting that trade is good at the moment.

"Since last year we have welcomed a wide range of businesses to the centres. In late 2018 Wilko opened a new store in the Pride Hill Centre. In the Darwin Centre; The Disney Store opened in the Darwin Centre; local artist Megan Hawkins opened in the Pride Hill Centre, and JD Sports and Planet Doughnut both opened in the Darwin Centre. In the run-up to this Christmas three new pop-up shops have opened in the Darwin Centre.

"This year four national retailers reinforced their commitment to Shrewsbury and the town’s shopping centres by signing new long-term leases. Fashion retailer H&M has agreed a new 10-year lease, The Perfume Shop has agreed a new five-year lease, Top Shop/Top Man has committed to a further three years, and QVC has also agreed a new three-year lease.

"JD Sports has been trading for a full year and has brought a younger customer into the Darwin Centre. The opening of the Darwin’s Den free children’s soft play area has been well received by parents and their children. The closure of Next in the Pride Hill Centre has hit footfall, however destination stores such as Wilko continue to perform well.

"Since October 2018 we have placed a big emphasis on arranging and staging a wide range of workshops and activities for people of all ages, though particularly children, to encourage people to visit and spend time in the centres. All run by local businesses, these have proved very popular and successful."

Gemma Davies, assistant director for economic growth with Shropshire Council, added: "The key investment in 2020 will be the mid-level refurb of the Darwin Centre to create a modern trading space with new customer facilities including toilets.

"We’re also continuing to develop plans for redevelopment of the Riverside shopping centre and surrounding area, and hope to give a further update about this to tenants and then the public early next year."

Telford Centre

The centre is currently undergoing a £55 million redevelopment, refurbishment and expansion programme.

This includes the 80,000 sq ft fashion quarter redevelopment for brands including River Island, Zara, Primark, Next, New Look, Superdry and H&M as well as the leisure redevelopments attracting leisure brands such as TGI Friday’s, Pure Gym and Inflata Nation.

Glynn Morrow, centre manager for Telford Centre, said: “Retail is changing but our experience is that retailer demand remains for premium, regionally dominant space, and Telford Centre is a great example of that.

"As a result, Telford Centre combines high fashion, department stores, independents, flagship high street and convenience with leisure and extensive parking. We find it’s a formula that is continuing to draw in large volumes of customers on a regular basis reflected in our significant footfall growth year-on-year."

Footfall has grown to in excess of 15 million, a trend Glynn expects to see continue over the next 12 months

“The refurbishment of the centre together with the continued expansion of the Fashion Quarter in 2020 means we will be welcoming more brands in the spring and summer. Our reach into the West Midlands is extensive and we believe as we continue with our focused expansion plans our popularity with shoppers can only increase,” he added.

Mander Centre, Wolverhampton

Located in the heart of the city centre, footfall at the Mander Centre has been boosted by five major store openings this year.

From small speciality shops to large high street favourites, the centre now boasts an impressive mix of stores.

Last month bargain store Wilko opened after closing its previous shop on St George's Parade. It joined B&M, Matalan, New Look and One Below in opening new stores in the shopping mall.

Meanwhile, preparations for the arrival of House of Fraser's huge new multi-brand store in the centre will begin in the new year.

Richard Scharenguivel, the manager of the Mander Centre, said: "The Mander Centre is Wolverhampton’s prime retail destination with footfall this year of around 12 million shoppers.

"2019 has seen five major store openings to complement the established retail line-up occupying more than 65 units arranged over four trading levels and 550,000 sq ft.

"We’ve added Matalan, B&M, Wilko, a bigger New Look and One Below to major brands including H&M, Boots, Bodycare, JD Sports, Footasylum, Clarks and HMV.

"We work closely with the council and other stakeholders such as the university and football club, our shops and the community who are our customers, which helps us deliver a strategy to protect us and the city from external pressures.

"Our investment means big retailers like Matalan, Wilko and B&M, have chosen to open in the Mander Centre, rather than in their traditional out-of-town locations. Many of our stores are breaking sales targets in the run-up to Christmas as we invest a lot of time and effort in marketing and communication between our retailers and our customers.

"We also work hard to bring in local independent shops and businesses who give us a real mix for the centre that shoppers appreciate.

"Helping the high street is vital to the health of our town and city centres.

"We are bringing the city centre to life, not simply selling space. Every new student at the university is a shopper and every football fan coming into the city to see Wolves is a potential customer."

Merry Hill, Brierley Hill

The centre has been a part of Black Country life since 1985 and has become a bustling shopping destination.

But like all retail it needs to constantly reinvent itself if it is to draw in shoppers.

A £12 million project is currently being carried out to modernise the shopping centre.

Work started last month to replace the outdated cladding at the Debenhams entrance.

Work has involved installing curved Rockpanel cladding, which will appear purple/green or blue and reconfigure the entrance layouts.

It will also install energy-saving LED feature lighting and large media screens at the centre.

Phase one includes upgrading the façade at Argos and M&S using Rockpanel cladding in different gold shades in a variety of finishes.

The final section of the works will be the upgrade of the areas around Primark and Sports Direct.

The modernisation programme is due to be completed in the third quarter of next year.

A host of new stores have opened in recent months, including Christmas Shop, All Good Things, MyCookieDough and a Tango Ice Blast kiosk.

Grand Central and the Bullring, Birmingham

Footfall has been strong this year, boosted by the arrival of a number of new stores.

The Bullring has welcomed about 35 million visitors through its doors to date, and it is getting about one million visitors a week in the lead-up to Christmas.

Grand Central, situated above the redeveloped Birmingham New Street station, currently offers more than 200 shops, including John Lewis, Debenhams, Selfridges and Zara. There are also almost 60 diners, cafes and restaurants.

A spokesman for Bullring & Grand Central said: "We’re always looking at how we can improve the shopping experience for customers. A number of brands have refitted or updated their units this year, including COS, Pandora, and The North Face, and on top of that H&M has introduced a new H&M HOME concept store to its existing shop in the Bullring.

"More broadly, we’re in the middle of a £2 million upgrade to New Street Mall, and we’ve introduced drive-thru parking so that customers don’t have to bother with ticket machines.

"We’ve welcomed a broad range of exciting brands to Bullring & Grand Central this year, including Levi’s, Slim Chickens, MYGA Yoga, and Kitty Café. We’ve also welcomed one of the only two stores Lego is opening in the UK this year at Bullring.

"While retail is undoubtedly challenging, this is still a really exciting sector to be in. What we’re seeing is that more and more consumers are looking for a ‘big day out’, combining shopping with leisure and food and beverage.

"We are also using our super events programme to create a real buzz at the destination. For example, our Festival of Light event in the spring both drove footfall, but also attracted people from further away than normal, as well as consumers who hadn’t come to the Bullring before."