The number of department stores in the UK has fallen by 388 since the BHS chain collapsed in 2016.
In 2016, there were 467 stores in the country. That number has since dropped by 83% to 79 this year, the BBC reported, citing the commercial property information firm CoStar Group.
More than two-thirds of these shops remain unoccupied, the report said, and 237 big stores have yet to be taken over by a new business.
"The data undoubtedly highlights the acceleration of change in the retail sector in recent years, which the pandemic has only exacerbated," CoStar Group's head of analytics, Mark Stansfield, told the BBC.
Stansfield said he believed the pace of change would soon step up.
"We are increasingly seeing forward-thinking real estate owners getting ahead of the problem and reshaping what are key assets in our town centres to provide a focal point for regeneration," he said.
"I think we'll see many more plans come to light in the coming months. With these store closures come new opportunities."
Five years after BHS ceased trading, a quarter of its former outlets have still failed to attract new tenants, while 149 former Debenhams stores are currently vacant after it shut its doors in May this year, according to the report.