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This decline started decades ago.

In the 21 years I've lived in the UK, dozens of large chains have shut down, including several large, iconic department store chains.

The reality is the shift online have been going on for more 20 years at this point, and it's not at all just Amazon, and to the extent Covid had an effect it was to speed things along a ton little bit.

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There has been a big jump in online grocery delivery during the pandemic in the UK. I suspect many people are continuing with online delivery even though pandemic restrictions have eased.

The pandemic really exposed some of the supermarkets and retailers with no online delivery offering (at least in the UK) e.g. Lidl, Aldi, Primark. All the supermarkets remained open during the pandemic, but the ones without the online delivery option missed the opportunity to expand in the online grocery market.

That's true, but this is not where anywhere near a majority of retail collapses in the UK has come from. Most of the large collapses started long before Covid, and even most.of the contraction during Covid has been of businesses on a solid downward trajectory long before.

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