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Coronavirus could turn cities into doughnuts: empty centres but vibrant suburbs

<div class="grid-ten large-grid-nine grid-last content-body content entry-content instapaper_body inline-promos"> <p>The most COVID-19 lockdowns were accompanied by sobering news from the UK’s high streets. The Arcadia Group, which owns some of the UK’s most iconic high street clothing retail outlets – Topshop, Topman and Dorothy Perkins, among others – has gone into administration.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the UK’s oldest retail chain, Debenhams, is closing. Around 12,000 people are set to lose their jobs, on top of 6,500 already lost this year, after efforts to rescue the retailer fell through.</p> <p>All of this comes at the end of a decade that saw a major decline of British high streets. Since 2007, some 556 retail companies have failed, with the closure of almost 39,100 stores and the loss of 468,809 jobs as shoppers move online.</p> <p>These impacts vary geographically. Many of the closures are concentrated in city centres. But beyond the city core, there remains the prospect that smaller town centres and suburban high streets might emerge stronger in 2021 as people learn to love shopping locally again.</p> <p><strong>A downwards trend</strong></p> </div> <div class="grid-ten grid-prepend-two large-grid-nine grid-last content-topics topic-list"> <p>Long before the pandemic, high street retailers were facing stiff competition from out-of-town shopping centres and, more importantly, online retailing.</p> <p>According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, online sales in November 2006 totalled 2.8% of all retail sales. The latest data shows that online sales in October 2020 amounted to 28.1% of total retail sales – but this had already risen to 21.5% in November 2019, before COVID-19 reached the UK.</p> <p>The pandemic has exacerbated the downwards slide of high streets. Thousands of the shops closed in March 2020 have not reopened.</p> <p>But there are markedly different patterns from town to town. Local high streets with more convenience shopping, hot food takeaways and other essential businesses have generally performed much better than city centres dominated by department stores and shops selling higher-value items.</p> <p>Take Greater Manchester, for example. Google’s Community Mobility data shows that visitor numbers to retail and recreation spaces in smaller town centres like Bury and Rochdale have recovered faster. In contrast, Manchester city centre has continued to perform much more poorly as commuters continue to work at home and avoid public transport.</p> <p>It may actually be that COVID-19 has encouraged more people to shop locally, and that they have begun to see more value in their local town centres. This raises a fundamental question about the future of city centre retailing.</p> <p>London provides a good example. Now that the first COVID vaccine has been approved by the UK government, central London will undoubtedly eventually return to some of its former vitality, attracting tourists and other visitors to enjoy its eclectic night-time economy, theatres, galleries and museums.</p> <p>But, if more people prefer to work at home and not head into central London from the suburbs, the retail retraction we have witnessed in 2020 will only worsen.</p> <p><strong>Hollow cities</strong></p> <p>Retail and recreation visitor numbers in central London – the City of Westminster and the City of London – have been particularly affected by COVID-19 when compared to the wider city.</p> <p>Overall average daily visitor numbers to retail and recreation spaces within Westminster and the City of London fell by 70.6% and 76.7% respectively between February 15 and November 24 2020. The most recent lockdown, which commenced on November 5, saw retail and recreation visitor numbers fall to 90%-92% below pre-COVID levels.</p> <p>In comparison, overall average retail and recreation visitor numbers in inner London and outer London councils were down by 54.9% and 38.4% respectively. Our mapping of the impact of COVID-19 on visitor journeys to retail and recreation places across London effectively reveals a “doughnut city”: shoppers have abandoned the centre, while suburbs have remained rather more resilient.</p> <p>The future of city centre high streets after COVID-19 is uncertain. One answer would be to suggest the cities will bounce back as vaccinated workers and shoppers return, and that their shopping streets will live on.</p> <p>However, this does not take into account the scars left by COVID-19. Take London’s iconic Oxford Street as an example. Since late March, department store John Lewis has halved the size of its Oxford Street store. House of Fraser, another department store, is to be part-repurposed as offices and a gym. Topshop’s flagship store on the street is at risk of closure.</p> <p>With online retail behemoth Amazon emerging as one of the only winners of COVID-19, we have to be realistic about the future of central London as a shopping hub.</p> <p>Retail rents are declining fast in the West End, and it is likely that prime retail sites will be converted to offices or even homes. The UK government has already loosened planning regulations that permits the conversion of shops to residential uses without planning permission – all part of the drive to solve the housing crisis.</p> <p>We are witnessing a switch in the use of urban space, as people working from home increasingly spend time, and money, outside city centres. The hope is that smaller high streets and those local centres most valued as hubs of community life, not just places of consumption, will witness a renaissance in 2021. The viability of larger centres – Birmingham, Manchester, and especially London – looks to have fundamentally unravelled.</p> <p class="p1"><em>Written by Paul J. Maginn and Philip Hubbard. This article first appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-could-turn-cities-into-doughnuts-empty-centres-but-vibrant-suburbs-151406">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> </div>

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The latest Kmart $29 hack fans are going crazy for

<p>It’s the $29 Kmart pie maker that has sent social media users into a tizzy.</p> <p>Why you may wonder (or not)? Not only can it create pies, pizzas and even pancakes in minutes, but a mum has discovered it can create a Nutella filled doughnut in less than 10 minutes.</p> <p><img width="411" height="308" src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/e601fabc5bbc2db5de1c2b183b548213" alt="The inside of the doughnut is filled with Nutella." style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p>Posting to the Kmart Mums Australia Facebook page, group member Linda says the discount department store’s $29 pie maker can create the delicious treat in just eight minutes.</p> <p>And that it seems is enough to send a page into meltdown, with the post receiving more than 600 comments of praise and delight.</p> <p><img width="316" height="421" src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/7e5774d6579d656209c93aa1d18119e1?width=316" alt="The ingredients will take under 10 minutes to cook. &lt;a class=&quot;capi-image&quot; capiid=&quot;981bcfc2e71c0db2d63a36ce23aaebeb&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p>Th pie maker, which creates your traditional pie, can easily be utilised to make many other concoctions.</p> <p>Instead of using pastry and mince in the shells of the pie maker, users have shared ways to create other treats by using bread, eggs, flour, pancake mixture and even muffin batter to cook both sweet and savoury dishes.</p> <p>“I’m using my pie maker for cupcakes &amp; muffins more than pies,” one person commented.</p> <p>“I made them too but put maple syrup in the middle,” another added.</p> <p>“Made quiche in mine, school lunch sorted,” one woman suggested for a savory option.</p> <p><img width="399" height="300" src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/f82caf78dc962cdd0a1369dbbd6d439f" alt="The pancake pies use batter and a filling of your choice." style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p>Instead of using Nutella, one user put a small piece of solid chocolate into the centre and used pancake mixture instead.</p> <p><strong>How to make Nutella Doughnut:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Makes</span>: 12 doughnuts.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Ingredients</span>:</p> <ul> <li>1 cup self raising flour</li> <li>¼ cup caster sugar</li> <li>¾ cup milk</li> <li>2 eggs</li> <li>dash of vanilla essence</li> <li>2 tablespoons vegetable oil</li> <li>60g melted butter</li> <li>Nutella (1 teaspoon for each doughnut)</li> </ul> <p><em>For the doughnut coating</em></p> <ul> <li>1 cup caster sugar</li> <li>1 teaspoon cinnamon powder</li> </ul> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Method: </span></p> <p>1. Put self raising flour, melted butter and caster sugar in a mixing bowl.</p> <p>2. In a separate jug, add milk, eggs, vanilla essence and vegetable oil.</p> <p>3. Pour mixture in to flour mix, whisking until combined.</p> <p>4. Heat up pie maker, and spoon in mix until it’s just below 3/4 full.</p> <p>5. Gently dollop the teaspoon of Nutella into the centre of each doughnut mix.</p> <p>6. Close the lid and cook for 8-10 minutes. They will be cooked fully when spring to the touch.</p> <p>8. Remove doughnuts from pie maker, brush all over with butter and toss through doughnut coating.\</p> <p><img width="415" height="234" src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/77328cd52657021d14f2b38437386416" alt="Some try putting jam or maple syrup in the centre of the pancake pies instead of Nutella." style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p>

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