Vacancy rates drop to record lows in downtown Essex and Harrow

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Essex council received its latest downtown vacancy report on Monday night, showing storefronts in both Essex Centre and Harrow are nearly full.

Vacancy is at its lowest level since tracking began in 2017. Essex Centre sits at 4.19 per cent, with nine empty units out of 215, while Harrow is at just 2.13 per cent, with only two vacancies out of 94.

Administration told council that’s a sign of strong business growth and investment, with many previously empty storefronts now occupied.

But the low numbers also point to a challenge that there’s very little space left for new businesses, especially in Harrow.

Corinne Bridger is the president of the Harrow & Colchester South Chamber of Commerce and says commercial vacancies are usually filled within 30 to 60 days.

“We were happy to see that when the beer store closed, immediately that had someone in there right away,” Bridger said.

“There’s a new used car dealership and car detailing place that just opened up. It is really nice to see that when something does come available businesses are definitely interested in setting up shop.”

Bridger says while she hasn’t heard of businesses being shut out entirely, she says expansion is difficult.

“People looking to put in something that they need more square footage than a typical like little retail storefront is going to offer in Harrow,” she said.

“So people wanting to set up kind of bigger operations, we definitely don’t have a lot of that space available on the main street.”

She says while Harrow has plenty of service providers, residents still have to leave for some basics.

“I think the community would like to see a little bit more shopping options, right? Things that they can get, clothes or shoes or that sort of thing locally without having to go too far into the other communities,” Bridger said.

The report was received unanimously, and council asked for Colchester to be included in the next study in two years.