Outlining his beliefs in a speech at Oxford University, Mr Wrigley described high streets as "irrelevant to the needs of shopping today" as people increasingly choose to shop for goods over the Internet or in supermarkets and out-of-town malls.
And describing the Portas Review - under which the self-styled Queen of Shops made 28 recommendations to the government to try to save the ailing high street - as the 'right diagnosis, wrong prescription' Mr Wrigley downplayed any such efforts as 'propping up a failing sector'.
'Unlike Mary Portas, I don't think we can continue to try and muddle through, supporting the traditional high street model ,' he said.
Miss Portas concluded her report to the Government recently, proposing a series of measures to revive the high street, including the introduction of free parking, national 'market days' and the establishment of teams of retailers, councils and landlords to work together to recoup footfall and enhance the shopping experience.
Too little, too late argues Mr Wrigley. With a national small-shop vacancy rate of somewhere around 14% - six times the rate for housing - the writing is on the wall for our high streets.
'There comes a point when the vacancy rate is so high that no new retailers will come in to a location because they don't want to be sited among empty shops. It is, in effect, a death spiral.
'There is some debate about where the threshold lies but it is probably between 20% and 30%,' he said.
Calling for the "reinvention" of high streets he argued that the planning system needs to start by making it easier for former shops to be converted into residential units, and shop car parks converted into private parking.
'If people returned to town centres, as residents not visitors, the effects could be far-reaching,' said Mr Wrigley.
Believing that the high street had failed to keep up with a 'forty-year revolution in retail' he suggested that by 2025 shopping malls and leisure centres would reduce in number, gain hugely in size, and become 'leisure villages in which we take brief holidays'. Residential areas would retain some shops, but on a far smaller scale.
Between then and now however, an enormous amount of turmoil for the retail sector lies in wait, with the recent demises of Past Times and La Senza and the trouble at budget fashion retailer Peacocks just the start. Mr Wrigley, a veteran of the retail sector with 30 years' experience including directorships at New Look, Debenhams and BHS, expects more retail casualties in the 'coming weeks and months'.
'Retailing will never be the same again, but there is much to be gained from facing up to this fundamental, and irreversible, truth. In doing so, we might just create the space in which we can re-cast and revitalise our town centre communities,' he said.
High Street 'is in a Death Spiral'
