The line graph illustrates how many shops opened and closed for the eight-year period from 2011 to 2018.
Overall, the number of both closures and openings of shops fluctuated during the 8 years. However, it is clear that the closures of shops surpassed the openings of that over the period except for in 2011 and in 2015.
Looking at the line graph more closely, one can see that both categories decreased between in 2011 and in 2012, particularly the number of openings seeing a significant drop of 4,500 shops. In the year of 2014, both sectors reached a similar figure of about 6,500, the former experiencing a fluctuation and the latter consistently increasing from 2012.
This figure saw a significant shift in 2015 by both figures falling, in particular the number of closures hitting a low at roughly 700 shops. In 2016, shop closures overtook the number of opened shops which remained the same at 4,000 from 2015. This trend remained stable, until the gap between them widened from approximately 1,000 to over 2,000 in 2018.