It turned out to be a good week (and a better weekend) for UK retail footfall across 22-28 June as a combination of a heatwave and payday combined to deliver a welcome, if modest, lift week on week. But the figure wasn’t so pleasing year on year.
Image: Pexels
In previous weeks the heatwave may have been blamed for suppressing visitor traffic, but this time week-on-week, footfall rose 1.5% overall, driven by shopping centres (+3%) and retail parks (+1.7%) according to the latest MRI Software performance data.
Yet the picture is somewhat cloudier compared to 2024. On that basis, high streets experienced a modest drop of -2.4% whereas retail parks and shopping centres saw much more marginal declines of -0.7% and -0.8% respectively. So maybe that heatwave wasn’t quite such a boon after all.
Back to the sunnier week-on-week numbers: Friday and Saturday stole the show via late-day surges with shopping centres seeing footfall soar 7.1%, much of it post-5pm, while retail parks and high streets climbed 4.5% and 4.1%, respectively.
City centres came alive as Central London rose 4.7% and regional cities by 2%, fuelled by a packed calendar of events and exhibitions. Meanwhile, coastal and historic towns cooled suggesting the holiday crowd is retreating.
“As a summer of sport and music events kick off this week, it’s a great opportunity for retail leaders to maximise on elevated footfall levels in many towns and cities across the UK, and also ensure they’re prepared operationally, especially for those in leisure and hospitality”, said MRI.
