Shoppers continued to return to high streets and shopping centres last week as lockdown curbs eased further, but numbers were still more than a quarter below pre-pandemic levels.
Data from Springboard shows footfall across all UK retail destinations rose by 1.1% last week from the seven days before. There were rises in both high streets (+2.4%) and shopping centres (+1%) but footfall in retail parks fell (-1.7%).
However, compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, footfall remains a huge 28.7% lower across all retail destinations with Springboard’s insights director, Diane Wehrle, saying there was “significant ground to be made up” as retailers emerge from the crisis.
Springboard highlighted that the reopening of indoor dining on Monday of last week supported footfall in retail destinations in face of severe rain across the country for much of the week. However, Wehrle said it was mostly high streets that benefited, with people also gravitating towards larger cities away from local high streets, particularly during the evening.
Official data published on Friday showed retail sales in the UK surged up 9.2% in April after shoppers splashed out on new clothes when non-essential shops reopened.
