Shopping centre footfall rises for first time in three years
Retail footfall declined by just 0.5% year-on-year in January as shopping centre footfall rose for the first time in three years.
The figures from retail insights firm Springboard reveal that there was an increase in footfall in both shopping centres and retail parks where there were respective uplifts of 0.2% and 1.4%.
Meanwhile, footfall in high streets dropped by 1.8%.
According to Springboard’s figures, January was the first month since March 2017 that footfall increased in shopping centres.
Diane Wehrle, Springboard marketing and insights director, said: “Whilst a rise of 0.2% is only a modest increase it brings some much-needed hope for this destination type that has consistently lost shoppers for over two years. It seems that this is an early sign that the regeneration schemes long planned by owners to broaden the offer of malls to incorporate a greater experiential element, particularly in the larger malls, are working and they now better reflect consumers demands.”
She added: “This result reinforces the benefit of a single ownership structure and also demonstrates the realisation that the old format of 100% retail is no longer relevant.”
The figures also show that there was an improvement in the number of shop vacancies in January, with the rate of 9.8% being the lowest for a year.
