“The second full week of retail trading in England, delivered a further increase in footfall across UK retail destinations last week. However, it was a far more modest uplift than the week before, and still means that footfall remains at about half of that last year.” SpringBoard
The latest reports from Springboard, the leading provider of data and intelligence on customer activity in stores and destinations, show that High Streets are still suffering the biggest reduction on footfall year on year.
“Footfall over last week rose modestly from the week before, however, the seven day result belies the impact of both the reopening of hospitality, hairdressers and barbers on Saturday in England and Northern Ireland, and the easing of travel restrictions in Scotland. The combination of these changes meant that the rise in footfall over the weekend was twice as great as that between Monday and Friday.
“There were also subtle differences in performance between destination types, with shopping centres and retail parks recording larger increases in footfall between Monday and Friday, but high streets benefiting from the reopening of hospitality over the weekend due to the greater preponderance of pubs and bars.“
Whilst there are small signs of improvement, High Street footfall on average is running at under 50% of where it was last year.
Blackburn Life are passionate about supporting small local businesses and now is the time to supporting these small businesses that are the life-blood of our communities. Supporting local businesses helps the local economy to thrive. So whether it is a visit to a restaurant, a trip to Blackburn or Darwen Markets, a spruce up at the hairdressers or a stunning piece of jewellery, now more than ever is the time to support local.
Don’t forget, that many of your local businesses will take telephone orders and offer home delivery.
