The news that online retail colossus, Amazon was closing down three warehouses across the UK has hinted that the bonanza for building ‘big shed’ warehouses may be waning.
Despite the closures of warehouses at Hemel Hempstead, Doncaster and Gourock in Scotland, Amazon claimed it would be opening two new facilities in the UK.
The boom in building warehouses in the UK has seen the amount of commercial space double in the last decade.
Demand for warehouse space rose in line with the growing trend of consumers moving to online shopping and away from shopping on the High Street or retail parks.
This trend was given a supercharge during the Covid -19 pandemic when people were forced to spend long periods at home and traditional shops were closed.
Online rose to nearly 40 per cent as a percentage of all retail sales in January 2021, compared to a mere 8 per cent in 2011. While having dropped back somewhat, it remained at 28 per cent in February 2022.
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