Shopping strips may be lined up with empty shops due to the staggering increase in rental prices.

Australian Retailers' Association executive director Russell Zimmerman disclosed of rent hikes reaching as much as 30 percent across Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia. The hike, he said, has been affecting small retailers and will soon affect large-scale retailers.

Zimmerman said big retailers “looked at the leases, thought they weren't making the dollars, so walked away from the sites.” The hike, in a way, saved the big retailers; however, it has left the small retailers trapped.

The retailers head explained that the small-scale businessmen are the ones who have invested their superannuation into small businesses. Zimmerman claims,“They have been in them five years and then the rent increases and, because they have invested all their money and they may not have written off the fixtures, they sign the lease.”

A significant number of small businessmen, Zimmerman said, were trapped into increases based on the Consumer Price Index plus of 1.5 to 2 percent for the duration of leases. Moreover, the retailers had to face increases of 10 to 30 percent when leases the time came for the leases to be renewed.

Zimmerman expressed concern for the retailers by stating that “they will end up working for the landlord and eventually go broke.”