According to the Scottish Retail Consortium, this is 1.4 percentage points higher than the same point in 2019.

Shopping Centre vacancies are increasing to 18.2% from Q3’s 16.8 while high street vacancies remained at 13.5% in the fourth quarter of last year, the same level as Q3.

Retail Park vacancies increased to 11.9% in Q4 2020, up from 10.4% in Q3. However, it remains the location with by far the lowest rate.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, the overall GB vacancy rate increased to 13.7%, from 13.2% in Q3. It was 1.6 percentage points higher than the same point in 2019. This was the tenth consecutive quarter of increasing vacancy rates, from Q2 2018.

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “The upheaval and tumult wrought by Covid and repeated government lockdowns and restrictions is taking a heavy toll on shops, many of which have been forcibly closed for five of the past ten months. This second successive quarterly spike in the vacancy rate means that one in every seven stores in Scotland now lies empty, a stark and very visible reminder of the crisis engulfing parts of the industry.

“These figures don’t include the announcements over recent days of further store closures by some household names - and the likelihood is things will continue to worsen in the coming months.”

He added: “Scotland’s shops and retail destinations will only survive with the patronage of the public. The extent to which retail remains the cornerstone of our town and city centres and its ability to continue to employ hundreds of thousands of Scots will also depend on the decisions made by policymakers. Shop vacancies are at a six-year high, footfall has slumped, and non-food stores have seen revenues plunge by a third.

“Whilst a return to trading is crucial, it will not be a panacea for the industry. That’s why we hope to see a recovery plan from government to help get retail motoring again, including some semblance of the potential route back to re-opening the sector and out of lockdown.”

Lucy Stainton, head of retail and strategic partnerships, Local Data Company, commented: “The latest LDC vacancy figures clearly show the predicted acceleration in units closing, the catalyst of which being the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this number only reflects the very immediate impact of the pandemic on the retail market.

“Hundreds of thousands of stores have been struck by changing restrictions and many of these remained temporarily closed in the intervening periods between lockdowns. Therefore these businesses are not reflected in the permanent vacancy figures. With each round of restrictions, these ‘frozen’ units are less likely to reopen and so we’re predicting the compound effect of each lockdown being visible in later figures.

“Added to this, with recent announcements from the likes of Debenhams and Arcadia, the size of the stores coming onto the market will present a real challenge given the likely lack of demand for larger high street units. With a limited number of new store openings, structural solutions will need to be found to prevent these vacant units lying empty for 2,3,4 years or more.

“Looking further out, the increase in availability of space will provide opportunities for new businesses, however we must prepare ourselves for the picture to get worse before it gets better.”