Retail footfall up 4.9% last week
Footfall in UK retail destinations increased by 4.9% last week from the prior seven day period.
The latest data from retail intelligence specialist Springboard shows that high streets and shopping centres fared the best with respective uplifts of 6.9% and 4.8%. Meanwhile, retail parks saw a more modest rise of 0.8%.
Footfall across all retail destinations rose by an average of 3.9% from Sunday to Friday from the week before and this grew to 8.2% over the bank holiday weekend. However, there was a sharp fall of 11.7% on bank holiday Monday, which was mainly due to a 10.8% decline in shopping centres. In contrast, retail park footfall grew by 4.5% as shoppers headed to food stores to restock on household essentials.
Meanwhile, the number of visits to retail destinations in coastal towns rose by 19.8% over the bank holiday weekend, and by 20.1% in historic towns.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The bank holiday weekend was particularly positive for towns that appeal to both day and overnight visitors such as coastal and historic towns, demonstrating the significance of staycations this year.”
Comparing footfall to the same week in 2020, the number of shopper visits was 14.2% higher overall and 23.4% more in high streets. In contrast, the gains made by retail parks and shopping centres were smaller at 3.2% and 5.7% respectively. The strengthening of retail is reflected in the comparison with 2019, with the gap across all retail destinations last week standing at -16.3%.
Wehrle added: “The positive news for bricks-and-mortar retail destinations is that footfall last week was noticeably higher than in the same week in 2020 when the August bank holiday also occurred, particularly in high streets; and the gap from 2019 was the smallest of any week since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.”
Photo by Georgia Hawkins
