According to footfall expert Springboard, the UK retail sector had a strong bank holiday weekend, with an increase in footfall compared to the previous week. Over the three-day period from Saturday to Monday, footfall rose by an average of 8%, bringing the gap from 2019 to just -8.3% across all retail destinations.
The previous week saw a 3.1% increase in footfall across UK retail destinations, driven largely by a significant uplift of 77.9% on Sunday due to the low comparison with Easter Sunday the week before. On Monday, footfall only declined by 0.4%, though retail parks experienced a drop of 11.9% due to a strong comparison with Easter Monday.
The strongest trading days were Saturday and Sunday, with footfall increases of 9.5% and 11.3% respectively. While there was a smaller uplift in consumer activity overall on Monday (+3.3% from the week before), retail parks performed well with a 12% increase in footfall.
Both high streets and retail parks showed significant improvements compared to 2019. High streets performed -8.5% below 2019 over the three days and -5% below 2019 on Monday. Retail parks were -2.6% below 2019 over the three days, with footfall 1.2% higher than 2019 on Sunday.
Overall, footfall across all UK retail destinations was 22.5% higher than last year over the three days and 36.8% higher in high streets, rising to 52.1% higher than 2021 on Monday. In the days leading up to the bank holiday weekend, footfall was noticeably lower than the previous week across all destination types, declining by an average of 7.3% between Tuesday and Thursday.
City centers also saw an increase in activity over the three days, with a rise of 8% in Central London and 15.9% in regional cities outside of the capital. Additionally, footfall in coastal and historic towns initially declined over the seven days before Saturday, but both experienced a bounce over the bank holiday weekend with average increases of +8% and +14.7% respectively.
Useful links:
1. Retail Gazette: Retail footfall drops across all destination types
2. Insider: Inverness businesses banking on bumper week
