The retail sector has finally received some “positive news” this week after footfall data was released regarding England and Wales’ Bank Holiday weekend.
Retail analyst Springboard revealed that footfall in UK retail destinations rose by 4.9% last week from the week before, with rises of 6.9% in high streets and 4.8% in shopping centres versus just 0.8% in retail parks.
Footfall across all retail destinations rose by an average of 3.9% from Sunday to Friday from the week before, however this rose to +8.2% over the August Bank Holiday weekend as shoppers made the most of the long weekend.
Despite the Bank Holiday weekend uplift in footfall, there was a sharp dip of 11.7% on Bank Holiday Monday.
Springboard marketing and insights director, Diane Wehrle, commented: “In the final week of the school summer holiday period footfall across UK retail destinations continued to rise from the week before, although the increase was wholly driven by high streets and shopping centres, rather than retail parks.
“Footfall rose on each day of the week, with larger rises occurring each day from Friday onwards.
“Over the bank holiday weekend, the increase in footfall in high streets from the previous week was three times as great as the average over the preceding six days from Sunday to Friday, and in shopping centres it was twice as great.
“In contrast, in retail parks footfall declined over the bank holiday weekend from the week before.
“The bank holiday weekend was particularly positive for towns that appeal to both day and overnight visitors such as coastal and historic towns, demonstrating the significance of staycations this year.
“The positive news for bricks-and-mortar retail destinations is that footfall last week was noticeably higher than in the same week in 2020 when bank holiday also occurred, particularly in high streets; and the gap from 2019 was the smallest of any week since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.”
