Retail footfall boosted by May bank holiday weekend
New figures have shown that retail footfall rose by 3.1% last week from the previous seven day period.
According to Springboard, footfall was also up over the May Bank Holiday weekend, with an uplift of 8% across Saturday 30 April to Monday 2 May. The strong increase meant that the gap from 2019 for the period narrowed to an average of -8.3. Historic and coastal towns performed particularly well.·
Meanwhile, shopping centres and retail parks recorded strong week-on-week improvements with uplifts of 9.4% and 8.2% respectively in the three day period. High streets also saw an increase with a rise of 7.2%. In comparison to last year, footfall was 22.5% higher in all UK retail destinations over the three days.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The early May bank holiday saw a considerable rise in footfall, closing the gap from 2019 footfall to just -8.3%; this was a result of a number of factors. It seemed consumers deferred shopping trips until the weekend, causing a spike in footfall.
“Not only this, the significant pick-up of retail park footfall over the Saturday and Sunday was undoubtedly driven by consumers restocking on food and groceries after the weekend.
“What’s more, while it appears Easter trips had ended last week, with declines in footfall in coastal and historic towns, the bank holiday weekend showed a bounce back.”
