Footfall down by 25% in bleak spell ahead of festive period
Forced shop closures will add to the gloom with Christmas looming, says retail chief
FOOTFALL in Northern Ireland shops dropped by 25% year on year in November, ahead of the collapse of some of the biggest names in UK retail.
But footfall had been better last month compared to October, with a 5.7 percentage point improvement, suggesting that some had started their Christmas shopping early.
In Belfast, year on year footfall was down by 24.9%, but with a five percentage point jump on October.
For the sixth month in a row, shopping centres here had the healthiest performance of the whole of the UK, falling by 21%.
In comparison to our 25% drop, footfall Uk-wide was down by an average of 65.4%.
The statistics from the British Retail Consortium follow the administration of Arcadia Group, owner of retail brands like Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins and operator of dozens of shops around Northern Ireland.
And the administrators of department store Debenhams, which has five stores here, have said they expect to shut down in the new year after failing to attract a buyer. Bonmarche, a discount women’s fashion chain with around 10 shops here, has also gone into administration.
Retail performance here for November has been healthier than England as a lockdown had brought the closure of non-essential retail at the start of November.
However, non-essential shops remained open here until November 27, when a two-week lockdown began.
Aodhan Connolly of the NI Retail Consortium said: “The fact that shopper footfall has shrivelled by a quarter is a particularly bad harbinger at the start of what should be the golden period for our industry.
“This will be compounded by the forced closure of non-essential retail which will affect their ability to make the money that they need to see them through the lean months of January, February and March.
“Parts of retail are now in crisis. We have seen many big and small names tumble and stumble throughout this pandemic with high street stalwarts amongst the latest casualties.”
He said retail desperately needed support from the Executive and added that there had been no follow-through after a high streets taskforce had been announced in August.
“If we are to prevent a collapse of the high street the support promised by the Executive must be forthcoming quickly and there must be ongoing support in 2021,” he added.
There was no “long-term vision to support Northern Ireland’s largest private sector industry”, he said.
“The Executive must take these challenges seriously and work with us on a rescue plan.”