UK retail destinations all experienced a bounce this last week when non-essential retail and some outdoor hospitality reopened, but weak pre-Covid comparisons show how far the industry still has to recover.
A number of different footfall monitors published on April 19 found that footfall across all shopping destinations was anywhere from 85.8% to 178.8% up on last week, with non-essential stores in England and Wales allowed to open their doors.
Data from Springboard showed that the footfall recovery last week was strongest in shopping centres, which saw a large rise of 126.6%, while high streets reported a 93.2% upsurge.
Meanwhile, data from Sensormatic Solutions, formerly ShopperTrak, found that high streets had enjoyed the biggest uptick (178% week-on-week), with over £1.6bn spent on reopening day alone last week.
The weekend was also relatively strong for retail footfall, with Sensormatic finding shopper visits across all retail destinations in England were up 196% week-on-week.
While the weekly comparisons gave UK retail a glimmer of hope, the comparisons with pre-pandemic 2019 shopping behaviour paint a truer picture.
Springboard found that across all retail destinations footfall was down 25.4% this week compared to the same week in 2019, with the gap even wider for high streets (34.9%) and shopping centres (27.9%).
Footfall figures recovering… but slowly
Retail parks continue to be the most resilient of retail destinations, with footfall this week compared to 2019 down just 2%.
Springboard found that central London and regional cities also experienced big week-on-week increases of 120.4% and 116% respectively. The gaps on pre-pandemic footfall are larger than regional high streets and shopping centres, however.
Data from the New West End Company illustrates this disparity. NWEC said that footfall for the week after reopening was about 54% of a usual week in April.
More positively for the West End was that the first Saturday saw that recovery number inch to around 70% of usual visitor numbers.
New West End Company chief executive Jace Tyrrell said: “It’s wonderful to see so many people back in the West End to visit their favourite shops once again. We are thrilled to see that footfall for the first week was above what we expected, and believe that this reflects the public’s desire to safely reconnect with family and friends and enjoy their favourite brands once again, and also the resilience of the area.
“We hope that footfall continues to increase in a safe and sustainable way but, until international shoppers return, the West End will continue to need extra government support.”
“We desperately need an extension of Sunday trading hours in Britain’s two international centres - London’s West End and Knightsbridge. As we look to the evolution of the high street in post-pandemic London, we need to be able to give shoppers the flexibility they need to spend what they want, when they want, while generating more money for retailers and protecting jobs.”
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