Vacancies are significant economic and societal issues and visible indicators of city-centre vitality and viability. This study examines the ground-floor retail vacancies in Turku CBD in 2016–2021 to explore why some spaces stay vacant for years, whereas the business is flourishing next door. Based on location-based data collected yearly by a retail consultancy firm, the study creates a spatial database that enables the longitudinal analysis of vacancies (length and spatial distribution). The most numerous space users throughout the study period were beauty and wellness services, followed by cafes, restaurants,and fashion retailers. At a certain level, vacancy is necessary as it enables new operators to find spaces for their businesses. However, one-fourth of the vacancies were long-term (three years or longer). Interviews and discussions with local urban planning professionals, retailers, real estate agents and real estate players are conducted to investigate the reasons for the long-term vacancies. The findings indicate that vacancies are scattered around the CBD, with no apparent spatial pattern. The main reasons for long-term vacancies were the layout and facilities of the premises, prolonged planning processes, and in some cases, unrealistic yield requirements. However, it turned out that one-third of the long-term or frequent vacancies detected wereoccupied in late 2021, with many brick-and-mortar stores selling physical goods replaced with wellness and beauty services or cafés and restaurants.