The pandemic has hit Aberdeen retailing harder than any other big city in Scotland, according to the boss of a UK think-tank.
In an interview Keith Findlay at The Press & Journal, Andrew Carter has urged the Scottish Government and council chiefs to start taking steps to get more people into the heart of the Granite City, for both work and leisure, "as soon as it is safe".
Mr Carter is chief executive of urban policy research unit Centre for Cities and was speaking ahead of today's latest annual Cities Outlook report.
"As soon as it's safe to do so, policymakers at Holyrood and in the council should consider what steps they need to take to encourage more visitors to return for both work and leisure," he said.
Pandemic 'hit retailers harder than hospitality'
The document out today focuses on high streets and city centres and how they have been impacted by CV19.
There's a grim story in it for Scotland generally, with the report saying the coronavirus has cost cities north of the border more than six months-worth of high street retail sales.
The report states: "Surprisingly, the biggest high street casualty has been fashion.
"There has been a significant shift to buying clothes online, a trend which shows no signs of reversing in most cities with in-store fashion sales remaining well below pre-pandemic levels."
Mr Carter added: "The pandemic has Aberdeen city centre harder than any other big city in Scotland.
"Businesses there have lost more than half a year's potential sales and, as a result, empty storefronts have increased by more than five percentage points - the eighth-highest in the whole UK.
"Much of the problem that businesses in the centre of Aberdeen face is caused by a persistent lack of office workers."
Vacancy rates
Shop vacancies in the Granite City increased by 5.6% between March 2020 and November 2021.
This is compared with 4.8% in Dundee, 4.7% in Glasgow and 2.3% in Edinburgh.
Dundee has the highest percentage of vacant city centre shops, with 22.6% of the total stock lying empty.
It is followed by Aberdeen (19.9%), Glasgow (18.7%) and Edinburgh (10.1%).