Footfall across UK retail destinations rose by +8.5% last week from the week before, according to retail footfall insights provider Springboard.
The increase in activity in high streets and retail parks was of a similar magnitude (+9% in high streets and +9.7% in retail parks) but the rise of +6.3% in shopping centres was a third lower as shoppers gravitated to external environments to make the most of the warm and sunny weather.
The cold weather on Monday impacted the overall result for the Easter weekend, with a drop in footfall on Monday from the week before of -20.2% across all retail destinations, although footfall rose in retail parks by +8.7% as shoppers replenished food after the weekend.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard commented: “With exceptional weather across most of the UK it was not a surprise that last week footfall rose across all retail destinations from the week before, and with the warmest weather occurring in the south it was unsurprising that this part of the UK that benefited the most. Footfall rose across all three destination types, but external environments inevitably benefitted more than shopping centres where the rise in footfall was a third lower than in high streets and retail parks. Following the anniversary of the start of Lockdown 1 in the week before, footfall last week was 1.5 times as great as it was in the same week in 2020, but still two thirds lower than in 2019.
The Easter weekend was a week earlier than in 2020, with Good Friday and Easter Saturday overlapping the end of the week. The Easter weekend as a whole (Friday to Monday) was disappointing with a drop in footfall from the same four days in the previous week, however, the bank holiday weekend was hampered by the cold weather on Monday. Despite this, footfall was more than double that over Easter in 2020 although still more than a half lower than over Easter in 2019.”
