Data: Footfall recovery in October gives retailers hope for Christmas

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Footfall across high streets, retail parks and shopping centres showed an improvement in October, leaving the sector optimistic about a strong start to Black Friday and Christmas.

In the four-week period from October 3 to October 30, 2021, footfall across the UK improved to -13.4% of pre-pandemic levels, compared with -17.4% in September, according to the latest Springboard footfall monitor.

In terms of two-year comparisons, footfall was down 15% on high streets, 20% in shopping centres and 3.1% in retail parks for the period.

While the early weeks of the month were subdued, the last week of October, which included the half-term school holiday, provided a big boost to all destinations, dragging the overall average from -14.3% over the first three weeks to -10.9% in the final week.

High streets and shopping centres received the biggest half-term boosts, while city-centre footfall also increased during the period.

In central London, footfall moved to -22.2% from -32.2% in September, while in regional cities it reached -15.7% from -19.3% in the previous month.

Given the continued absence of international tourism, Springboard said this increase showed “the drift back to the office is accelerating”.

While footfall rebounded strongly, Springboard said that vacancy rates continued to be high. The rates of vacant shops across all of the UK’s retail destinations was at 11.7%, compared with 11.8% in September.

“The complexities of the leasing market and the heavy burden of business rates hinder the reoccupation of empty units while also often forcing unviable retailers to continue to trade, highlighting its limitations as the sole indicator for determining bricks-and-mortar retail performance,” said Springboard marketing and insights director Diane Wehrle.