Retail Footfall Increases Again

The level of UK retail footfall rose again in the past week, confirming that shoppers are coming back to the high street after the re-opening of stores.

All UK retailers have been able to open their doors since May 17th brought the latest stage of easing from lockdown and shoppers have been coming back, despite the ongoing concerns of some about the virus and particular issues in a handful of towns where the ‘Indian variant’ has been prominent.

Figures from Springboard have shown the level of footfall was up last week by 1.1 per cent on the previous seven days. This was mainly due to a one per cent rise in shopping centres and 2.4 per cent increase in high streets. Retail park footfall dipped 1.7 per cent.

The overall increase may be welcome news for those providing fixtures and fittings for stores, such as fashion dummy mannequin manufacturers serving clothing stores.

A notable feature was a drift towards places that could complement shopping with more dining. This saw an 11.8 per cent rise in footfall in central London and a 2.3 per cent increase in coastal towns, taking trade away from areas like outer London.  Another feature was that footfall was greater in the evenings.

Insights director at Springboard Diane Wehrle noted that while the overall rise in footfall was good news, there is some way to go. She commented: “Despite the uplift in footfall last week from the week before, there is still significant ground to be made up as footfall across all UK retail destinations remains more than a quarter below the 2019 level.”

This week has seen Marks & Spencer reveal it will close 30 stores - albeit spread over ten years - as part of its financial restructuring. But while that may reduce the high street presence of one of its big names, it seems clear that the British public is still a long way from giving up on shopping in big stores.