England fans trade work for the world cup
Figures released today from FootFall suggest that England’s World Cup game against Trinidad & Tobago last night had significantly less of an impact on retail footfall levels than Saturday’s opening England game against Paraguay.
Natasha Burton at FootFall commented: “The majority of people headed into work as usual yesterday, using lunchtime to stock up on food and drink for the early evening game and leaving early to arrive home, or in pubs and bars, for the five o’clock kick off time.
“While this impacted on late night shopping levels, resulting in a reduction in the number of people visiting retail destinations of 9.7% compared to the same Thursday in 2005, this contrasts with a year-on-year fall in footfall levels of 22.6% on Saturday, highlighting both the greater impact that weekend games have on the sector and the significance of the hot weather as a detrimental factor for retail.
“We would expect to see a similar fall in footfall levels for Tuesday, when England play their final group game against Sweden, with their second round clash likely to have a greater effect on the number of people visiting retail centres as it will be a weekend fixture,”
Retail FootFall Index (UK) Thursday 15th June 2006:
Year on year: – 9.7%
Week on week: – 2.9%
