Retail footfall continues to rise, despite lockdown

Warm weather has inspired shoppers to come out, despite store closures during the latest lockdown. Footfall to the UK’s high street rose 15.9 percent last week, more than double that of shopping centres, which saw a rise of 6 percent. The Average footfall across all destination rose 11 percent, down -56,5 percent over 2020.

The latest data from Springboard show activity rose 21.6 percent on Friday and Saturday, with the high street seeing the biggest surge in shoppers.

The rise in footfall was more than +10 percent in all types of town centre, but the rises were greatest in regional cities outside London (+18.6 percent), coastal towns (+18.4 percent) and historic towns (+16.1 percent). Even in Central London footfall rose by +16.4 percent, although this uplift is from a much lower base than elsewhere.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard commented: “Footfall data is continuing to deliver ever clearer evidence of lockdown fatigue amongst consumers. Perhaps prompted by the announcement of the government’s roadmap to reopening at the beginning of the week, but then supported by drier warmer weather in the second half of the week, footfall in UK retail destinations rose once again last week from the week before. Not only was this the sixth consecutive week that footfall has increased, but its magnitude was greater than in any previous week and nearly twice that in the week before.”