Footfall improves for independents and retail parks
December 8, 2021
Latest data for retail footfall favours retail parks and local shopping over the high street as some hesitancy over Omicron is believed to be holding back consumers.
The research by retail analysts Springboard is good news for locations for flooring and furnishing stores – retail parks are up 1.3% and up 1% for local shopping off the high street last week.
City centres are still struggling substantially with a decline of nearly 4% and the High Street in general was down 0.4%.
The statistics may be a little subdued and are 17% below pre-pandemic 2019 figures – but they are 43% up on this time last year!
“Last week provided the first evidence of an early impact on footfall of the Omicron variant," said Springboard insights director, Diane Wehrle. “Footfall in UK retail destinations last week was more subdued last week than the previous week but rose marginally, and it was wholly driven by uplifts in activity in retail parks and shopping centres whilst there was a modest decline in high streets."
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