Thanks to half-term and pop-up shops, there has been a noticeable improvement in footfall during October, with the decline compared to the same month in 2019 sitting at -13.4%, compared to -17.4% in September.
According to the latest figures from Springboard, High streets and shopping centres benefited most in the final week; footfall in high streets strengthened from -15.8% over the first three weeks to -12.1% in the last week, and in shopping centres footfall shifted from -21.5% over the first three weeks to -15.9%.
UK city centre footfall also improved in October which, in the continued absence of overseas tourists, suggests that the drift back to the office is accelerating. In Central London footfall moved to -22.2% from -32.2%in September and in regional cities outside of the capital, it reached -15.7% from -19.3% in September.
“Whilst footfall is recovering, the vacancy rate remains high at 11.7% which is only a very marginal improvement from July when it was 11.8%. This is despite the growth of pop-up stores that are a typical feature of retail destinations in the run up to Christmas, but which should be even more prevalent now given the greater availability of empty space,” says Diane Wehrle, Marketing & Insights Director at Springboard.
She adds: “However, this is not a surprising outcome as the vacancy rate is both a lagged and sticky indicator. The complexities of the leasing market and the heavy burden of business rates hinders the reoccupation of empty units whilst also often forcing unviable retailers to continue to trade, highlighting its limitations as the sole indicator for determining bricks and mortar retail performance.”
