Store Affront: Retail vacancies rise amid pandemic

In 2017, vacancy rates at area retail locations were at a 9-year low. City-wide, the vacancy rate was 1.78 percent. On the Downtown Mall, it was 1.05 percent, with the Landmark Hotel and the former Clock Shop of Virginia space being the only two vacancies.

But what a difference a few years and a global pandemic make.

According to a January 2021 retail vacancy report from Charlottesville's Office of Economic Development, the city-wide vacancy rate is now at 7.66% and the Downtown Mall's vacancy rate is 5.32%.

The Downtown Mall, Barracks Road, and Seminole Square have been the most hard hit. The Downtown Mall has lost 9 locations since January 2020, while Barracks Road has 10 vacancies and Seminole Square has 9.

Still, that's not as bad as it was in July 2009 and January 2010, at the height of the recession, the report notes, when the vacancy rate on the Downtown Mall peaked at 9.00%.

Remarkably, and this always surprises me, the Downtown Mall has 188 storefronts, according to the report…