According to retail experts Springboard, retail destinations fared well over the early May bank holiday with a strong uplift in footfall from the week before that averaged +8% over the three days from Saturday to Monday.
The strong performance narrowed the gap from 2019 considerably, to an average of just -8.3% between Saturday and Monday across all retail destinations.
The lead up to the bank holiday weekend saw noticeably lower footfall than the week before across all three destination types. Over the three days between Tuesday and Thursday footfall declined from the week before by an average of -7.3%.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, commented: “Although the run up to the bank holiday weekend footfall was noticeably lower than the week before across all three destination types, it seemed consumers deferred shopping trips until the weekend, causing a spike in footfall. Not only this, the significant pick-up of retail park footfall over the Saturday and Sunday was undoubtedly driven by consumers restocking on food and groceries after the weekend.
“What’s more, while it appears Easter trips had ended last week, with declines in footfall in coastal and historic towns, the bank holiday weekend showed a bounce back, with rises that averaged +8% and +14.7% over the three days from Saturday to Monday. This was reflected too in city centres around the UK activity also increased over the three days; by an average of +8% in Central London and by +15.9% in regional cities outside of the capital.”
