The hot and sunny weather did not tempt shoppers as footfall across all UK retail destinations declined by -2.3% last week from the week before, according to MRI Springboard figures. This is a sharp contrast with the week before last when footfall rose by an average of +2.9% driven by increases in all three key destination types.
The most resilient of all three retail destinations proved to be shopping centres where footfall dropped -1.7% while high streets saw a -1.9% decrease. The biggest drop, however, came from retail parks where the week-on-week drop in footfall of -3.7% exceeded the rise of +3.1% recorded in the week before last.
The week-on-week declines recorded on six of the seven days ranged from -1.3% on Wednesday to -6.7% on Tuesday, with just Monday recording a rise of +2.8% following a drop of -2.1% in the week before last.
Across the town types, it was only in Central London where footfall rose from the week before by +1.1%. With another month remaining before schools break up for the summer holidays, not even the hot weather helped coastal and historic towns where footfall declined from the week before by -4.8% and -1.3% respectively. The same can be said for market towns which saw a -4% decrease and outer London where there was a -3% decline.
Despite the drop in footfall over the week, the annual uplift from 2022 remained at +4.9%. However, the gap from the 2019 footfall level nearly doubled to -11.3% from -6.8% in the week before last.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at MRI Springboard, commented: “Despite the hot and sunny weather, it seems that the bounce back in footfall across UK retail destinations recorded in the week before last was short-lived, with a dip in footfall last week of nearly the same magnitude. There were variations in performance across the three key destination types, with the most resilient being shopping centres. Out of the three, it was only in retail parks where the drop in footfall last week exceeded the gain made in the week before last, whilst in high streets and shopping centres the week on week declines last week were no more than two thirds of the uplift in the previous week.
“Footfall across UK retail destinations declined from the week before on six of the seven days last week, although in shopping centres there were week on week increases on three of the seven days. With another month before most of the schools break up for the summer break not even the hot weather helped coastal and historic towns where footfall declined from the week before, as it did in both market towns and Outer London. Central London was the only town type where footfall rose, albeit marginally.”
