Retail footfall suffers as schools reopen and workers stay home
UK retail footfall declined sharply last week, data published on Monday showed, as children returned to school and people continued to work from home.
According to retail consultancy Springboard, footfall across all UK retail destinations declined by 6.3% in the week to 12 September compared to the previous week. Shopping centres reported the heaviest decline, down 9.0%, with high streets off 5.4% and retail parks down 5.2%.
It was the first week-on-week decline since the end of April and caused the annual fall across all UK retail destinations to worsen, to -27.5% from -25% a week previously.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: "The back-to-school boost to footfall ended sharply last week. While this is a pattern of consumer activity that [we have] come to expect – we have seen this drop occur in all but one year since we starting publishing our footfall indices in 2009 – the magnitude of the drop has been larger than in any previous year.
"This signifies the continued impact of many Brits continuing to work from home as offices across the UK remain closed."
Regional cities reported a decline of 7.9% though Central London was off by only 3%, which Springboard said offered "a glimmer of hope".
Greater London reported a week-on-week fall of 4.5%, while Wales saw a 9.2% decline and Scotland a 4.1% decline.
The end of the holiday season also hit historic and coastal towns, with their high streets reporting above-average falls of 7.7% and 9.8% respectively.