The comments follow Knight Frank figures released last week that show suburban strip vacancies rose 0.7 per cent over the year to 7.7 per cent, with some streets such as Bridge Road having one in five shops empty.

The 15-year average vacancy for 11 of Melbourne's best-known streets was 3.7 per cent.  "It really has jumped up in the last couple of years," researcher Richard Jenkins said.

The retailing malaise has spread to once rock-solid strips.

Brunswick Street, where "you would never see empty shops 10 years ago", now has four or five vacant stores, according to Teska Carson's Matt Feld.

Retailers had drifted towards the street's cheaper city-end then moved on to Smith Street in search of lower rents, leaving stores vacant for longer in the once-popular strip.

There needs to be a rent-led recovery, he said.

In some streets, like Bridge Road, that means significant falls of up to 50 per cent. Others, like some sections of Chapel Street, may come off up to 25 per cent.

"Landlords need to take control of the fact some streets are not in great shape and be proactive about offering incentives to attract tenants," he said.

Fitzroys' Charles Emmett said Bridge Road, since its peak five years ago, had seen a 30 per cent drop in rents.

But Mr Emmett said it was more about "getting the right retailers in there" than reducing rents. "In a shopping centre you can get rid of non-performing tenants and get in new ones. In a retail strip that process takes five years."

Bridge Road was a "special case", both said.

"It's a seriously long-term thing. I can't see it getting better in the next year," Mr Feld said.

A resurgent population driven by development activity may help over time.

A seven-level 57-unit apartment with three street-level shops was recently approved for 203-207 Bridge Road and well-known developer Little Projects recently purchased number 153 tenanted by Cotton On and grocers Thomas Dux.

Architect Toby Lauchlan said aspects of a shop's design affected how it performed.

Mr Lauchlan's firm ClarkeHopkinsClarke won the Mainstreet Australia "mainstreet activation award" two weeks ago for a mixed-use development in the Highett shopping strip.

Shopfronts should be clearly visible to passersby without steps or other hindrances, he said.

"It needs to be inviting enough to draw people in and get them moving through the space to go into the shop," he said.

"A lot of the issues with existing shopping strips are the steps. It's a negative for a retailer," he said.