The future of Dark Stores & what can property investors and landlords do to prepare?

Late last month Sky News reported that, Grocery delivery app, Getir was preparing to exit UK market.

In 2021, as a result of the pandemic, the likes of Weezy, Gorillas and Getir all became household names as their delivery services disrupted the market, with Getir being described as one of ‘the hottest start-ups of the pandemic’. Their operations relied on ‘dark stores’ that were inaccessible to the public, rather than customer facing stores, and this meant they did not need not be in an area with high footfall or with a sizeable car park and could instead be squeezed into a railway arch, a warehouse or an industrial park. The rise in dark stores provided an opportunity for property investors who had some appetite for risk and could purchase or repurpose previously unpopular space in areas which did not lend themselves to traditional uses with a view to letting, or selling, that space to a dark store provider.

During this period, we penned a series of articles discussing the key points to be considered when negotiating heads of terms with dark stores (one, two, three, four, five and six).Getir’s future is unknown at this stage, but investors and landlords with ‘dark store’ tenants may want to pay particular attention to part six, where we discuss assignment of a lease and underletting. 

If you would like to discuss any of the points raised in this dark store series, please do get in contact with Sophie & Katherine.