Retail parks continue to outperform high street footfall

UK retail footfall was 0.2 percent lower in October than the same month last year, which meant the rate of decline was unchanged from September, according to the monthly figures released by the British Retail Consortium and Springboard.

The footfall monitors shows footfall in retail park locations continued to increase, up 2.9 percent year-on-year, however, still below September’s high of 4 percent. Whereas high streets and shopping centre once again saw a decline in their monthly footfall by 1 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.

Four regions in England reported positive footfall growth in October, with the East Midlands continuing its strong performance, as well as the South West, the South East and Greater London. While footfall in Scotland edged down 0.6 percent, Northern Ireland and Wales moved into positive territory in the month with respective increases of 2.1 percent and 0.4 percent.

Helen Dickinson, BRC chief executive, said: “The locations consumers are choosing to shop remains in a state of flux. While the rate of decline in footfall across high streets and shopping centres appears to have stabilised, more and more shoppers are choosing to visit retail parks which offer a greater mix of leisure and retail.”

Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard, added: “After a long period of recession and low demand for additional space from retailers, alongside the growth of leisure and food and beverage and multi-channel shopping, landlords have been forced into being more flexible about who they are prepared to accept as tenants and on what terms – no longer able to demand the strength of covenant they were once able to, we are now seeing a broadening of occupier types in high streets and shopping centres which can only be for the good.”