High street footfall in August decreased by 0.3% YoY, an improvement from the -3.3% in July, despite riots disrupting areas across the UK, according to British Retail Consortium (BRC) data.
The trade body found that retail parks saw a 2.6% rise in the week following the riots as “some continued to avoid high streets and shopping centres”.
How did the riots in August impact c-stores?
It said that footfall recovered across all destinations towards the end of the month when warmer weather and summer sales prompted shoppers to browse their favourite stores.
Helen Dickinson chief executive of the BRC commented: “As violent disorder erupted across the country earlier in the month, footfall was severely impacted as many people stayed away from shopping destinations.
“The upcoming budget is an opportunity to move forward with the plan to fix the broken business rates system which acts as a brake on retail investment, and contributes to our declining high streets as it leads to so many store closures up and down the country.”
No comments yet