London’s Oxford Street in June 2023, the number of visitors to the retail destination bounced back strongly last year.
Photographer: Carlos Jasso/BloombergInvestors Bet on London’s Oxford Street Bouncing Back
Hollowed out and blighted by candy shops and Covid, Europe’s busiest retail destination is showing signs of new life.
Commercial real estate is enduring its most tumultuous period for years, but that hasn’t stopped advisers in London proposing an unlikely bet for their clients: Oxford Street.
Once considered the crown jewel of Britain’s retail sector, Oxford Street suffered a collapse in visitors during the pandemic and struggled to recover. Two years ago, workers dismantled a 25-meter-high mound made of scaffolding that local politicians hoped would lure back tourists to the west of the street. Marble Arch Hill, by then coated in decaying vegetation, was mocked by critics as contrived, tacky and expensive — hardly the qualities with which a globally renowned shopping district would want be associated.