60k shoppers at The Bridges
About 60,000 shoppers headed to the Bridges Shopping Centre during the first weekend after non-essential shops reopened.
Bosses at the Bridges have confirmed that about 60,000 people visited the city’ s shopping centre between Friday, June 19 and Sunday, June 21, and say they are pleased residents have come to the city centre to support local businesses.
Friday saw more than 25,000 people hit the shops with almost 24,000 visiting on Saturday after lockdown measures were eased on Monday, June 15, to allow non-essentials to restore open to customers.
Both Friday and Saturday saw more visitors than on opening Monday where about 22,000 people paid a visit to the Bridges.
While Sunday remained quieter with about 10,000 visitors with stores following Sunday trading hours.
Sharon Appleby, Head of Business Operations, Sunderland BID, said :“Wear every pleased that, following the reopening of non-essential retail, shoppers have continued to come to the city centre and support local businesses.
“After a good start numbers have steadily grown and, as expected, we have had seen an increase over the weekend.
“We carried out some research to see how customers were feeling about returning and the number of shoppers we have seen are in line with these findings.
“Feeling safe was understandable a top priority and the measures that have been put in place across the city have given customers the confidence to return .”
The Echo is currently running its# Support Local campaign urging shoppers to back local traders where they can as lockdown measures ease and stores have reopened.
Duncan Allen, Building and Services Director at the Bridges, added: “The Bridges has seen a steady flow of customers as more and more retailers have re-opened and we are very pleased that they have adhered to both the centre’s own guidelines and those of the individual retailers.
“As we expected we were busy over the weekend but again we would still like people to consider what time they come in the centre and also perhaps think about shopping on Sundays when it is a little quieter.”