High Street footfall declines on Black Friday for first time in history
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Monday 29 Nov 2021
(Sharecast News) - UK retail footfall rose 2% week-on-week in the seven days ended 27 November, however, this was driven by shopping centres and retail parks as footfall across high street destinations declined on Black Friday for the first time in history.
Footfall at shopping centres increased 6.5% week-on-week and retail park footfall grew 4.9%, while footfall in high streets declined by 1.5%, according to retail experts Springboard.
Footfall was shown to have strengthened significantly on Black Friday, increasing from the week before by 17.9% in shopping centres and by 11.4% in retail parks but on High Streets, footfall declined week-on-week by -0.5%, the first drop since Black Friday started in the UK.
The impact of home working and the lack of tourism was also clear, with pre-Covid footfall in Central London and regional cities outside the capital rising on Black Friday from the week before by 23.7% and 29.6% in 2019, respectively, whilst this year the rises were just 2.3% in Central London and 0.5% in regional cities outside of the capital.
Footfall now stands at 17% lower than 2019 levels, a widening of the gap from the week before when it stood at 12.4% but more than double the levels seen in 2020.
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN