LONDON (Bywire News) - On Monday, researcher Springboard revealed that the number of in-store shoppers across Britain increased by 1.1% in just a week. This increase was influenced somewhat by the reopening of indoor hospitality following months of lockdown due to COVID-19.
Springboard found that on UK high streets, shopper numbers, or footfall, rose by 2.4%, while traffic in shopping centres increased by 1% but retail parks saw a 1.7% decrease.
It said high street footfall after 5pm saw a 4% rise week-on-week.
Springboard's insights director, Diane Wehrle said, "The reopening of indoor dining on Monday of last week certainly supported footfall in UK retail destinations in the face of prolonged, and often severe, rain across virtually all of the UK for much of the week."
Wehrle pointed out an obvious gravitation towards big citires, as consumers look for a greater variety of food options.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, footfall numbers across all UK retail locations were over a quarter higher than now.
The coronavirus outbreak has destroyed the retail sector in Britain, with many high street stores closing down and tens of thousands of people losing their jobs.
On April 12, all non-essential stores in England and Wales reopened after over 3 long months of lockdown. Scotland came out of lockdown on April 26, they were joined by Northern Ireland on April 30. All indoor hospitality came back into full swing from May 17.
On Friday, official data published revealed that retail sales in Britain shot up in April as consumers splurged on new clothes.
(Reporting by James Davey and Klaudia Fior, Editing by David Goodman and Gareth Jones)