Shopping-mall footfall down 31% on last year
FOOTFALL in shopping centres in Wales during August declined 31% compared to a year earlier.
Research from the British Retail Consortium and retail analysts ShopperTrak also shows that for the UK as a whole shopping centres experienced a 37.4% fall, which was more than 10% shallower than the decline in July.
By the nations and regions of the UK, the biggest fall was in London, down 46.4%, followed by Scotland, down 42.8%, and the north-west of England, down 40.2%.
The shallowest fall was in Northern Ireland, down 13.2%, followed by Yorkshire and Humberside, down 31.8% and the south-east of England, down 32%.
An analysis of total city-centre footfall, so also including the high street, shows that year on year Cardiff experienced a 30.9% decline. Of the cities assessed, only Bristol, down 27% and Liverpool, down 28%, experienced swallower contractions.
London had the biggest fall for total footfall with a decline of 45.3%, followed by Portsmouth, down 42.8%, and Manchester, down 40.6%.
Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said: “The onset of coronavirus has significantly accelerated the transformation of the Welsh retail industry with a knock-on impact on town and city centres. The situation is slowly improving but remains most acute in city centres, where stores are suffering significant drops in footfall.
“Shops and retail jobs depend on the patronage of the public. A prolonged absence of office workers, students and tourists from Wales’ city centres will be felt hugely by retailers and other consumer-facing businesses who rely on their custom, especially in the run-up to the critical Christmas trading period. Citycentre retailing can be a springboard for the economy to bounce back, but it requires an urgent plan for the permitted reopening of ‘non-essential’ offices and the safe return of office workers to our city centres.”
Andy Sumpter, retail consultant with ShopperTrak, said:“Footfall in the UK continued to improve throughout August, with a marked upturn in the final week. This can in part be attributed to the last days of the Eat Out to Help Out campaign, and back-to-school shopping. Retail parks continued to lead the way for recovery, with shopping centres catching up, while high streets are still lagging. With many people still working from home, high streets in many major cities desperately await the return of tourist and office commuter footfall.
“August also saw the UK recovery climb to second amongst its European peers, behind France. Whilst this is encouraging to see, retailers are dealing with traffic levels that are still around a third lower than the same time last year. As retailers prepare to ramp up stock and promotions for the ‘golden quarter’, this will be a defining period for many retail businesses.”