Data: Footfall in June stagnates as ‘freedom day’ pushed to July

Footfall did strengthen in June across high streets, shopping centres and retail parks, but much of that recovery was seen in the first week of the month, with subsequent weeks worsening incrementally, according to the latest Springboard data.  

Across all retail destinations, footfall in June was down 22.2% compared with pre-pandemic levels, the strongest recovery seen since the coronavirus crisis began. 

Footfall declined from 2019 by 27.2% on high streets, 29.1% in shopping centres and 4.1% in retail parks, with the largest gains in footfall seen on high streets, which improved by a third in the period due to the continued reopening of hospitality.

The majority of these gains were seen in the first week of the month, where warm weather combined with the early spring bank holiday and school holidays.

In that week alone, compared with 2019 levels, footfall across all destinations improved to -14.5% from -26.8% the week before.

With overseas travel still severely curbed, some regions in the UK experienced an uptick in footfall as people chose to holiday domestically. The biggest beneficiary of this was the South West, where footfall for the period was down just 1.8% on 2019 levels in the first week of June. 

However, with the government pushing back so-called ‘freedom day’ and the worsening weather, each of the subsequent weeks of June saw worsening footfall across all retail destinations. 

Springboard said: “The strong footfall seen in the first week of the month inevitably created misplaced optimism as over the remainder of June footfall worsened incrementally each week.

“This was undoubtedly a reflection of the lack of impetus for consumers to shop following the government’s announcement in the delay of ‘freedom day’ until 19 July. 

“This was heightened by the continued restrictions and limitations on overseas travel, which also reduced the need to shop for summer fashion in advance of overseas holidays.”

Springboard added that the removal of social-distancing restrictions from July meant bricks-and-mortar retailers had a “significant” opportunity to attract customers back to retail destinations.