Footfall edged down 3.4% last week
New figures have shown that footfall across UK retail destinations edged down 3.4% in the second week of reopening following the easing of retail lockdown restrictions compared to the previous seven day period.
The data from retail specialist Springboard shows the drop was even greater at 10.7% from Monday to Friday last week when many people continued to work from home rather than in workplaces. However, footfall rose by 0.9% week-on-week on Saturday.
Looking at the individual shopping destinations, shopping centres saw the biggest drop with a decline of 8.4% while high streets and retail parks saw respective falls of 0.8% and 3.5%.
Footfall during the week was 19.9% down on the same period in 2019, although retail parks registered an uplift of 2% which Springboard said demonstrated the ongoing attractiveness of the destinations to shoppers. Meanwhile, footfall in shopping centres and high streets was down 25.5% and 27.2% respectively.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The positive news for bricks and mortar retail continues, as the gap in footfall last week from the same week in 2019 continued to narrow, with the week ending at a higher level than at the previous peak at the end of August 2020.
“However, momentum in the recovery of retail slowed slightly last week, with footfall across UK retail destinations dipping slightly from the previous week when non-essential stores reopened.
“The tremendous opening week for retail was undoubtedly helped by the fact that it was the last week of the school Easter break for many children, which meant some parents took leave from work to visit stores and retail destinations as a family.
“It is therefore not surprising that footfall dipped last week from the week before, as children went back at school and many people continue to work from home making stores less accessible over the working week.”
