Inside town ravaged by shop closures after Arcadia collapse where dozens lie empty

mirror.co.uk:

One town in the East Anglia has been ravaged by shop closures over the past year. The closure of Arcadia’s stores comes just as 118 Debenhams branches are poised to shut.

Ipswich is one of the many that has both. Around 14% of the shop fronts in the Suffolk town’s centre are empty. But once you include the empty space in the floors above the figure soars to 50%.

The closure of the Topshop and Topman store in the Sailmakers shopping centre will make matters worse. But the bigger headache is the loss of Debenhams, the largest shop in Ipswich which also fronts onto the town square.

The former Footman’s department store used to be a flagship destination. “No-one is going to take a 55,000 square foot building that’s a 30-year old building,” says