Retailers get choosier in picking new sites

Retailers have become choosier over the sites they acquire, according to Greg Styles, head of retail at Colliers CRE.

His warning follows figures from the British Retail Consortium that showed retail spending was down 1.6% in March compared with the same period a year earlier.

This is coupled with difficulties that UK developers are having in securing financial backing for schemes, said Styles, as the credit crunch bites.

David Alker, Colliers CRE development director, said: “The issues facing the credit markets, commercial and construction price inflation and market conditions continue to prevail.”