Whenever I walk around a shopping centre, I notice that most conversations naturally begin with the vacant shops.

How long has the unit been empty? What rent was previously achieved? Which retailers have been approached? Could the space be divided, amalgamated or offered on more flexible terms?

These are all reasonable questions. But increasingly, I find myself looking elsewhere.

I look at the upper floors that no longer serve their original purpose. I look at former stockrooms, basements, service areas and accommodation hidden behind the main retail frontage. These parts of a building rarely appear prominently in marketing brochures, yet they can represent some of the greatest untapped opportunities within the asset.

For decades, the conventional response to vacant retail accommodation was straightforward: find another retailer.

That approach worked when demand was strong, retailer requirements were relatively predictable and shopping habits changed gradually. Today, the position is very different. Online retailing, changing consumer behaviour and the consolidation of many national retailers have fundamentally altered the way shopping centres are used.

In some locations, conventional retail demand remains strong. In others, years of continued marketing have demonstrated that certain areas of a building no longer appeal to modern retailers.

At that point, continuing to ask who else might occupy the space can become the wrong starting point.

What is the highest and best use of this space today?

Vacancy is often a symptom, not the problem

A building does not necessarily become obsolete because its original use is no longer viable.

Markets evolve. Businesses change. Customer expectations move on. Buildings, by contrast, tend to remain broadly as they were originally designed.

That creates a mismatch.

A basement that once supported a busy department store may have no meaningful retail function today. An upper floor designed as stockroom accommodation may be unattractive to office occupiers. A former service area may continue to generate rates, insurance and maintenance costs despite contributing little or nothing to the performance of the centre.

None of this necessarily means the space has lost its value.

It may simply mean that its value now lies in a different use.

This distinction matters because the language we use influences the decisions we make. Describe an area as “unlettable retail space” and the conversation begins with a problem. Describe it as secure commercial accommodation with established access, parking and servicing, and a different range of possibilities begins to emerge.

The building has not changed. The perspective has.

Looking beyond traditional retail

Across the UK, shopping centres are already becoming more diverse. Leisure, healthcare, fitness, flexible workspace, residential accommodation and community uses are increasingly being incorporated into schemes that were once almost entirely retail-led.

These uses are not necessarily replacing successful retail. They are helping owners make better use of the parts of their assets that retail no longer requires.

Self storage can play a similar role.

At first glance, self storage and shopping centres may appear to be unlikely partners. One is associated with browsing and footfall; the other is a destination business used by customers with a specific need.

In practice, however, the characteristics can complement each other remarkably well.

Shopping centres often provide secure managed environments, established parking, service yards, loading areas and good connections to surrounding residential and business communities. They may also contain substantial areas of secondary accommodation that no longer generate meaningful income through conventional retail use.

These are precisely the characteristics that can make a location suitable for self storage.

Visibility is not the same as accessibility

One of the first objections raised when considering alternative uses is that the available accommodation is not sufficiently visible.

It may have no prominent frontage. It may sit above the shopping mall, behind the service yard or within a basement. For many retailers, these would be serious disadvantages.

Self storage operates differently.

Today, most customers begin their search online. They use Google, compare local operators, read reviews and examine pricing before choosing which facility to contact. In many cases, the decision has largely been made before the customer ever arrives at the building.

The most important shopfront is increasingly the digital one.

This does not mean physical access is unimportant. Customers still need somewhere convenient to park and unload. The route into the facility should be secure, straightforward and clearly explained.

But there is an important difference between visibility and accessibility.

A self storage facility does not necessarily need to be highly visible from the road or shopping mall. It does need to be easy to find once the customer has chosen it, and easy to use when they arrive.

That distinction can unlock opportunities within areas of a shopping centre that would have very little attraction to a conventional retailer.

Seeing a building through a different lens

One of the most successful examples from my own experience is Stop & Store Fareham, where redundant accommodation above a former supermarket was transformed into a modern, fully automated self storage facility containing more than 200 individual storage rooms.

To someone assessing the space purely through a retail lens, its limitations were obvious. It lacked conventional shopfront visibility and passing footfall.

Viewed from an operator’s perspective, however, the picture was very different.

The space was secure. It had established access and servicing. It sat within a managed environment and was close to the residential and business customers likely to require storage.

What appeared to be redundant retail accommodation provided the foundations of a viable long-term business.

The lesson from Fareham is not that every shopping centre should contain self storage. Every property and every local market must be considered carefully. Access, demand, competition, planning, fire strategy and financial viability all matter.

The wider lesson is that commercial property should not be judged solely by the use for which it was originally designed.

Asking a better question

Good asset management is not simply about filling vacant units.

It is about understanding how every part of a property can contribute to its long-term performance.

Sometimes the correct decision will be to retain the space for retail. Sometimes it will be leisure, healthcare, workspace or another complementary use. In the right location, it may be self storage.

The answer will vary from one building to the next.

If we were designing this shopping centre today, knowing what we now know about the market, would we use this space in the same way?

When the answer is no, that should not be treated as a failure.

It may be the beginning of a much more valuable conversation.