Blog
With famous names disappearing from the high street at an alarming rate, vacant space is now a critical issue. There’s a need to maintain a positive stance with shoppers so that vacant units are seen as potential spaces for future growth rather than a sign of inevitable decline.
So we’ve come up with 5 ways to re-purpose them. From radical hoarding ideas to new uses that were previously unimagined. Why not challenge us to come up with something innovative for your empty spaces?
Hoardings don’t have to look apologetic, or uninspiring. We’ve developed a package of options that we can share with clients which range from inspiring to interactive; community-led to commercial.
We’ve been working with a few clients who have broken out of the usual silo thinking resulting in more imaginative uses of empty space. From an in-mall luggage check-in desk for an airport to a local gin distillery. We can think differently about traditional space.
We’ve been working closely with Enterprise Nation to help local entrepreneurs take their start-up business into the retail environment for the first time. Working in tandem with Sook (www.sook.space) we’re seeing professionally equipped units taking over vacant space with community initiatives in quiet times and fee-generating commercial partners at busier times.
Rather than use an empty unit in an apologetic way for community activities, it’s worth making a more confident, positive stance, rebadging it as a Community Hub and offering it to community groups for social activities as lockdown is lifted.
In Bristol we developed a student business development opportunity. Working with a local college we offered a vacant unit to a student who won the space for 6 weeks over summer. They had to draft their business plan and submit it as part of their course to the Centre Manager and lecturer – a great community initiative.
We’ve had success transforming vacant units into gaming suites for families. Traditional board games proved to be a simple idea which appealed to families across all ages while children’s interactive game graphics are a cost-effective way to enliven a space.
For more details, please contact:
Senior Account Executive
M +44 (0)7739 341826
D +44 (0)1707 808159
T +44 (0)1707 275050
emily@almarketing.com