Long-term fall in footfall continues, according to Springboard
The last week before the much awaited January payday was as challenging for retail locations as it has been historically, with an annual decline of -2.6%. This is on par with the -2.5% of 2018 and -2.4% of 2017. But, it is not all negative, as, like previous years, footfall increased by +0.8% against the previous week.
Although on the surface the shift from -2.6% from -2.5% in 2018 is minimal, this belies the underlying changes in the performance of each location type. Shopping centres experienced an annual drop in footfall of -2.5%, but this is an improvement upon the decline of -4.4% of last year, however High Streets took the brunt of this movement in consumers, with numbers declining from -2.5% in 2018 to -3.4% in 2019. Retail parks saw a slight change, dropping to -0.8% from -0.3% in 2018. Apart from a few regional pockets of growth for individual location types this annual drop was in the majority, evident across the country and the week as a whole.
onversely, the increase against the previous week was evident across all location types, with shopping centres leading with a growth of +1.3%, with high streets and retail parks recording +0.7% and +0.2% respectively.
