參差不齊的英國零售業(yè)

It’s been a cold damp winter， but Britain’s retail climate is showing signs of improving. New figures reveal the number of empty shops on the 1）high street has fallen to its lowest level in four years.

Matthew Hopkinson （Expert）： We’ve seen things are being 2）reoccupied around being removed from the stock or to alternative uses， so there seems to be， I dare say， green shoots coming back to the high street. But it’s not every high street. It’s primarily in London and the South.

This London suburb is one of the high streets that suffered its fair share of closures. Last year， Loughton had around 14 empty shops. That figure now stands at under 10.

Becky Elliott （Baby and Nursery Retailer）： You have that feeling in the pit of your stomach that， if they’ve gone and they’ve been here for X amount of years， you know， how long is it gonna be before we’re gonna face troubles， but， you know， luckily things have definitely improved.

But analysts warn that Britain’s economy is still 3）fragile. The latest UK retail sales figures for January fell 1.5%， slightly more than expected. That followed December’s figures， which had their strongest annual growth in almost three years.

There’s also been some improvement in other parts of Europe. French supermarket chain， 4）Carrefour， has reported its first sales rise in Spain since the financial crisis of 2008， and UK electrical retailer， Dixons， is showing a modest recovery of 3% in its Greek business. Matthew： I think that France has a number of issues， as does Italy， and probably Germany’s the next strongest to come back on line， but they don’t have such a strong on line history as the UK does.

Loughton had said goodbye to a number of chains over the years， but new ones are moving in. That’s good news for this generation of shoppers and the next.

真是一個濕冷的冬天，但英國的零售業(yè)卻有了回暖的跡象。新的數據顯示商業(yè)街閑置店鋪的數量降到了四年內的最低水平。

馬修·霍普金森（專家）：我們看到店面再次投入使用，不用被閑置或作其他用途，我敢說，商業(yè)街看起來有了復蘇的跡象。但并非所有商業(yè)街都這樣，復蘇主要集中在倫敦和其他的南部城市。

倫敦市郊的商業(yè)街是曾有相當多店鋪關門的地段之一。去年，勞頓鎮(zhèn)有大約十四間空店面；如今，這個數字降到了個位數。

貝基·艾略特（嬰幼兒用品零售商）：在你心底會有這樣一種感覺，如果他們在這兒經營多年之后走了，你知道，那我們還能維持多久呢，但幸運的是，情況確實已經開始好轉。

然而分析家卻警告說，英國的經濟依舊疲軟。最新的數據顯示，（2014年）一月英國零售業(yè)銷售額下降了1.5%，比預期略高；而去年（2013年）12月是近三年以來，年增長最強勢的月份。

歐洲其他國家的經濟狀況也有所改善。自2008年金融危機以來，法國連鎖超市家樂福的報告顯示其在西班牙的銷售額第一次出現(xiàn)增長；而英國最大的電器零售商迪克森的數據顯示其在希臘的業(yè)務也有3%的小幅上升。

馬修：我認為法國和意大利一樣，都面臨著一系列問題，德國也許將會成為下一個復蘇勢頭強勁的國家，然而這些國家恢復正常運行的勢頭不如英國。

過去幾年，勞頓鎮(zhèn)送走了一批連鎖商店，但是新的連鎖店正在入駐。這對這一代和下一代的購物者來說是一個好消息。