According to retail experts Springboard, footfall across UK retail destinations rose by 1.5% last week from the week before and was emanated wholly from high streets where footfall rose by 7.2%, indicating the first signs of confidence in returning to the office. In comparison, footfall in retail parks declined by -4.9% and shopping centres saw a -4% drop.
This is supported by the increase in footfall across all types of town from the previous week, which ranged from +3.6% in historic towns to +12% in Springboard’s Central London Back to the Office benchmark.
Notably however, from Sunday to Wednesday footfall declined every day, averaging -7.4% over the four days and -12.4% over Monday and Tuesday. It was from Thursday to Saturday that footfall increased every day from the previous week, averaging +13.4% over the three days and peaking on Saturday with an uplift of +17.3% from the Saturday before.
In high streets the uplift over the final three days of the week from the week before was even greater, averaging +21.2% and peaking at +30.1% on Saturday. In sharp contrast, footfall in retail parks on Saturday was -2.7% lower than in the week before.
The gap from 2019 narrowed marginally to -21.3% across all UK retail destinations last week, but the strong performance of high streets improved their position relative to 2019 to -26.9% from -30.9% in the week before. In contrast the drop in footfall in retail parks and shopping centres meant that the gap in footfall from 2019 in both destination types widened to -4.2% and -26% respectively.
“The second week of the year delivered mixed results; an overall increase in footfall across all UK retail destinations from the week before, but a rise that was driven wholly by high streets”
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The second week of the year delivered mixed results; an overall increase in footfall across all UK retail destinations from the week before, but a rise that was driven wholly by high streets, while in both retail parks and shopping centres activity declined.
“It seems that while the government’s Plan B guidance to work from home if possible is still in place, there are the first signs that employees are starting to drift back to the office; for the first time since mid-November footfall rose in high streets from the week before across all periods of the day, with a double digit increase in the first part of the day, when employees travel in to offices, for the second consecutive week.
“In addition, footfall rose in all types of town, including Central London and regional cities outside of the capital, and the increase in Springboard’s Central London Back to the Office benchmark (comprising those locations in close proximity to offices) exceeded the increase in footfall across Central London as a whole.’’
