LEEDS, England—A retail shakeout punctuated by the pandemic hit the U.K. especially hard. Independent shops, though, are thriving there.
That offers a modest silver lining for a global industry laid low by a pre-pandemic explosion of e-commerce, followed by on-again, off-again Covid-19 lockdowns. The number of independent shops—classified as privately-owned businesses that typically operate a single store—increased by 804 in the U.K. in the first half of 2021, according to the Local Data Co., which compiles retail data. That was the best six-month period in recent years. The number of chain storefronts, meanwhile, fell by 5,251, continuing a trend of large-scale closures.
