Asse is taking important steps towards a flourishing local economy with its retail plan and report

The municipality of Asse is strengthening its vision of a thriving local economy with a new retail plan. This plan is the result of a thorough coaching process with the help of the province of Flemish Brabant. In addition, the ‘retail report’ for Asse and all other Flemish Brabant municipalities is ready. Such a report contains data that is useful for pursuing a well-founded policy.

Retail plan is a strong stimulus for the local economy

​The province of Flemish Brabant supports municipalities in the development of their economic policy. She does this, among other things, by using retail coaches. 10 municipalities have already entered into such a coaching process. This concerns Hoeilaart, Halle, Wemmel, Tremelo, Affligem, Rotselaar, Londerzeel, Meise, Keerbergen and Asse.

The aim of such a process is to draw up a thorough policy plan that will provide direction and support to local entrepreneurs in the coming years. Through extensive studies, priority trade zones for development have been identified, relevant issues have been identified and efforts have been made to improve cooperation between all stakeholders within the municipality.

“We think it is important to support our businesses where we can. Businesses are the driving force of our municipality and guaranteeing their rights and opportunities is essential. The retail plan provides guidance in this regard. We strive for clarity about where activities may be carried out, both in our center and outside. To achieve this, we have worked hard on our retail plan together with the province. In addition to the province, we have also organized participation moments with all stakeholders,” says Sigrid Goethals, councilor for economy in Asse.

The retail plan focuses on supporting local retailers in the center. Outside the center, space is provided for larger activities and retail.

A number of important actions from the plan are:

Commercial centers and zones were demarcated in the municipality and a retail vision was drawn up for each zone. These include location determinations for large-scale trade, better clustering for clusterable trade and give the municipality the opportunity to shape the trade centers in a better way.

Extensive sector and formula analyzes are conducted that enable the municipality to respond to gaps in the supply. In this way, the municipality can proactively look for players to fill these gaps and/or address the pain points that are the cause of the absence of certain things.

Asse will present itself much more strongly as a commercial municipality. To this end, the municipality is committed to specific branding that will be extended both digitally and physically. The trading times will be clarified with physical interventions and a circular route will be mapped out to make a real shopping experience more possible.

A report with important data on retail for every Flemish Brabant municipality

The province of Flemish Brabant also publishes the annual reports on retail trade, together with the four other Flemish provinces. Such a report bundles a wealth of relevant data for retail and forms the basis for a well-founded retail policy. It includes various data, ranging from demographic information and prosperity indicators to insights into purchasing flows, vacancies and e-commerce.

​Fewer and fewer stores, but larger ones in Flemish Brabant

​The report from the province of Flemish Brabant shows that the percentage of commercial properties occupied by shops is declining. In percentage terms, an increasing number of buildings are occupied by catering and consumer-oriented services. What is striking is that despite the decrease in the number of commercial premises for shops, there is still an increase in the total number of retail sales floor space (WVO), the surface area of ​​a store that is accessible to the public. So there are fewer and fewer shops, but they are getting bigger.

A notable difference with Flanders is that the share of formula stores in Flemish Brabant is increasing more sharply than in Flanders. Another remarkable fact is that for the first time in 10 years the total WVO for supermarkets has fallen. This is despite the fact that the total number of supermarkets continues to rise.​

​It is also striking that the vacancy figures reached their peak in 2020. For the third year in a row, the vacancy rate either in WVO or in the total number of buildings appears to be falling within our province.

​Sharp decline in vacancy rates in Asse

​If we look at the report from the municipality of Asse, we have noticed a strong decline in vacancy in recent years.

​The decline in the number of shops appears to have reversed. The number of shops in Asse has remained stable since 2018. This is accompanied by an increase in the number of catering establishments and services. Only vacancy has decreased. So things are going well in Asse.

“With our retail coaching and reporting, we support the development of a prosperous local economy, where both entrepreneurs and consumers can thrive. We are happy to see the tangible results of our efforts in the municipality of Asse,” says Ann Schevenels, deputy for economy. “With our coaching programs we aim to strengthen local economic policy by supporting municipalities, such as Asse, in achieving their objectives. By making valuable data available through retail reports, we ensure that all parties involved have access to crucial information. In this way the province fulfills its role as a supporting government.”

​There is a separate report for each (Flemish Brabant) municipality. You can consult them via the retail dashboard report in the interprovincial database https://provincies.infigures.be

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