The UK’s convenience sector remains a “seller’s market,” with many store owners looking to retain or expand their businesses, a recent report reveals, reflecting a generally positive sentiment among retail operators.
Specialist business property adviser Christie & Co has today launched its Retail Market Review 2025, which reflects on activity, trends and challenges faced in the first half of the year for convenience stores, petrol forecourts, garden centres, farm shops, and retail investments in the UK, as well as an outlook for the rest of the year.
The report notes that sentiment among operators in the retail sector remains generally positive, with the number of buyers consistently exceeding the number of high-quality opportunities on the market.
Transactional activity in H1 2025 has remained consistent with the upward trend seen in 2024, and as of June 2025 Christie & Co had completed on 96 retail deals, a 41 per cent increase compared to H1 2024.
The company has also completed 13 garden centre deals since the start of this year, compared with 15 in the whole of 2024, demonstrating the continued attraction to this subsector. The average number of deals agreed by Christie & Co each month has increased by 71 per cent in the last year.
The report acknowledges the ongoing operational challenges, such as staffing and crime, and inflationary cost pressures which are impacting retailers, and forecasts that the price of products will increase to help counteract this.
A summary of market insights from each of Christie & Co’s specialist areas are as follows, with further insights in the full report:
- Convenience Stores: It continues to be a ‘seller’s market’ with many store owners looking to retain and expand their businesses. There is strong demand for high-quality high-turnover stores and businesses which can be upscaled with investment.
For many, short-term growth is being achieved through partnerships with a supplier that has ‘symbol’ branding, alongside refurbishment work and introducing new operating innovations. There is also growing willingness amongst existing retailers to travel a little further to acquire the right business.
- Petrol Filling Stations: The transactional market remains hot, with high demand for sites across the UK. There has been a slight softening of price at the top end, where buyers for the most expensive sites tend to require debt finance. Here, interest rates have slightly dampened the ability of purchasers to pay top money.
Changes being enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority will see operators required to report their fuel pricing though the Fuel Finder scheme, which may affect margins as retailers are encouraged to be more competitive. Whilst this won’t impact demand in the market, it will mean additional cost and resource for operators to be compliant.
- Garden Centres & Farm Shops: There has been a rise in the volume of leasehold transactions, which can offer secure long-term income for the landlord as well as a lower-cost point of entry and growth opportunities for operator tenants.
Reforms to the planning system are likely to increase interest in garden centres from buyers who are looking at good trading assets with long-term land value potential.
Steve Rodell, Managing Director – Retail & Leisure at Christie & Co, said, “Despite persistent headwinds, the retail sector continues to show strong fundamentals across convenience stores, forecourts and garden centres.
"Transactional activity in the first half of 2025 has outpaced expectations, and appetite remains high for quality businesses. We are seeing increasing agility from buyers who are willing to adapt their acquisition strategies in pursuit of long-term value.
"As the year progresses, we expect confidence to hold firm, supported by strong trading dynamics and a pipeline of live opportunities.”
To read the Retail Market Review 2025, click here: https://www.christie.com/sectors/retail/retail-market-review-2025/