At midday, there was a queue of about 30 people waiting to enter the Addicted store in London’s fashion and retail hotspot Carnaby Street.
The US “ultra-fast fashion” brand, founded in 2020, has attracted Gen Z and millennial shoppers with styles made desirable by social media influencers.
Addicted’s London shop, which opened in March as the brand’s first venture into Europe, has an aesthetic that’s tailor-made for posting on Instagram and TikTok — from its bright neon signs to the heart-shaped door arches and shocking pink bags.
Surveys consistently rank the UK as the country with the most active internet shoppers in Europe by online spending 38 percent of the country’s total retail sales in 2025.
But retailers and property developers say packed new stores like Addicted, a revamped Uniqlo in Covent Garden and the return of Topshop to John Lewis reflect a renaissance of consumers who have gravitated towards physical stores after the Covid pandemic, especially if they are in the middle of busy cities.
Average footfall at the UK’s 12 largest shopping centres, including London’s Westfield, Kent’s Bluewater and Manchester’s Arndale Centre, has increased by 55 per cent since 2021, according to estate agent Savills. It was found that the total footfall was 11 percent less as compared to 2019.
North London teenagers Kiki and Yasmin said they wanted to socialize and “buy things and feel the stuff”.
“It’s nice that you can try things – and online it’s often full of discounts and (brands) are always trying to get your email,” Yasmin said. “It’s a fun activity, I love shopping.”
Gen Z shoppers, aged between 14 and 29, are helping to drive a boom in the fortunes of UK business shopping venues. According to Casey, a UK consumer data provider, professionals aged 18 to 24 spend around 26 per cent more per year in city centers than the average consumer, shopping in stores “little and often”.
Rents are also increasing at prime locations. Estate agents Cushman & Wakefield estimate that rents adjusted for inflation on London’s Oxford Street, Britain’s busiest shopping destination, have risen by an average of 23 per cent over the past four years to £800 per square foot. This compares with a fall of almost 10 per cent in the four years to December 2019, to £850.
Vacancy rates in Oxford Street, which will become partially walkable by the end of the summer, have fallen from 7 per cent two years ago to just 1 per cent over the past four years.
The recovery in demand has also fueled a wave of new or renovated shopping centers in London, such as Broadgate Central – a retail and dining hub opposite Liverpool Street station that opened in November – and Elephant & Castle, which is reopening later this year.
According to MSCI, the increased interest in prime centers signals a turnaround from the post-pandemic period in which they fell out of favour, as out-of-town retail parks have outperformed other retail destinations in terms of investment over the past four years.
According to the Center for Cities think-tank, this trend is most noticeable in London, where suburban high street occupancy rates have overtaken the rest of Britain’s major towns and cities.
Some wealthy British cities such as Edinburgh, Liverpool, Oxford and York have also experienced similar percentage increases in rents over the past four years, C&W said.
“Retail parks are convenient shopping, it’s an efficient way to shop,” said Kelly Cleveland, head of strategy and investments at British Land, the property investment group that developed Broadgate Central Shopping Centre.
“But customers have shown they want to touch and feel things,” she said. “Not all shopping centers are winning – those that are less well-located or in over-supplied areas and without an attractive customer offer have not performed as well.”
The benefits are becoming increasingly concentrated. Savills estimates that the first quarter of the UK shopping center investment market this year was the strongest since 2016, with deals worth £418 million.
However, the estate agent noted that the total came from only six transactions “reinforcing the market’s continued reliance on a small number of large, high-quality properties to drive headline volumes.”
Additionally, some high streets across the country are still struggling. In Newport, Bradford and Blackpool, city center vacancy rates for retailers are more than double those in London and Cambridge, the Centers for Cities found last year.
Even in areas with high customer numbers, retailers have had to step up their efforts to attract shoppers through their doors – offering unique in-store experiences, such as event areas, personalized clothing or personal consultations on beauty and health.
The New West End Company, which represents businesses in the capital’s West End district, estimates that footfall on Oxford Street is increasing every year and people are spending 50 per cent more time per visit in the area than in 2019.
Dutch beauty brand Rituals revamped its Oxford Street store late last year to make room for its Minor Oasis brand, a spa that offers relaxation pods that promise hydro and brain massages. Chief executive Raymond Klosterman plans to extend the offer to busy shopping streets, airports and hotels.
These products, he said, were “well-being in their original form, but beyond that we are expanding and trying new things.” “We are now moving towards a new kind of state of well-being, where well-being is the new luxury.”
Retailers also say the physical store is a growing factor in their thinking, with younger consumers broadcasting their store experiences on social media. One influencer, Molly Ashton, showed her new Addicted clothes worth £450 to her 300,000 TikTok followers.
French sportswear brand Champion has set aside a section of its shop in Manchester’s Arndale Center to collaborate with local artists to personalize customers’ clothing.
“For Gen Z consumers, it’s important that brands are present across their entire spectrum of touch points, they won’t just come, you have to give them a clear reason to,” said Chris Fenn, chief marketing officer at Champion. The Manchester store “allows customers to create something unique and walk away with it within minutes, which really resonates with the young audience who value self-expression and creativity”, he said.
Alex McCulloch, director of retail and property at CACI, said: “We are seeing that big fashion brands are often aiming for smaller and more experiential stores.”
“This is because stores not only provide revenue, but in the right place, where people are engaged in their environment, they also provide a halo effect where the store increases online sales.”
Still, the busy Addicted store in Carnaby Street was not to everyone’s taste. Harland, a student, said, “Maybe the fitting in the store might be better online but (going shopping) it’s always crowded there. I only shop in the store when I really need to. Online is OK if you know what you want.”
Additional reporting by Megan Snaith
