Springboard: High Street Footfall Drops As Cold Weather Hits

Springboard has published footfall data for week 49 (04/12 - 10/12) noting that footfall on high streets dropped last week as the cold weather hit, but Central London remained strong.

Springboard Shopping Centre Index - Week 49 2022

2022 vs 2021 = +6.8%

2022 vs 2019 = -17.3%

Week-on-week = +2.2%

Springboard's Marketing and Insights Director, Diane Wehrle, said:

As forecast, footfall across UK retail destinations went into a lull last week following the boost delivered in the preceding two weeks by Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  There was only a very marginal rise in footfall from the week before, with a clear reduction in activity from Wednesday onwards when the cold weather hit. 

Somewhat inevitably, high streets were particularly hard hit as shoppers are exposed to the elements, while shopping centres performed best of the three destination types, reflecting the advantage of their temperature controlled internal environments.

Whilst footfall in UK high streets dropped marginally from the week before, London performed well with a rise in activity, particularly in Central London, which may well have been driven by consumers bringing forward pre-Christmas shopping and entertainment trips in advance of the train strikes planned for this week.

In normal circumstances, this would be the week when retail and hospitality trade ramps up, with many employees typically having their Christmas parties and shoppers hitting stores to purchase gifts, culminating in "Super Saturday", the final Saturday prior to Christmas Eve.  With train strikes planned for four days this week, there will be a clear impact on the trading success of stores, hospitality venues and destinations in what is the last normal working and trading week before Christmas. 

Source : Springboard

Image : shutterstock.com / 610869530

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