Retail footfall strengthened in February, industry data showed on Thursday, despite the impact of storms Dudley and Eunice.
According to data from retail consultancy Springboard, footfall strengthened slightly in the four weeks to 26 February, to come in 20.7% below 2019, compared to -20.8% in January. Month-on-month, footfall rose 9.1%, the largest single monthly uplift since June 2021.
In high streets, footfall fell 26.2% compared to February 2019, by 24.1% in shopping centres and 5.3% in retail parks.
Springboard noted: “Despite the third week of February being impacted by severe storms footfall across all retail destinations over the month as a whole was surprisingly robust.”
In the weeks before and after the storms, footfall averaged 18.5% below 2019. Springboard estimated that had it not been for the extreme weather in the third week, the overall result for the month would have been around -18%.
Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s marketing and insights director, said: “The uplift in February is a reverse of the result in six of the nine years up to and including 2019, when the annual change in footfall in February worsened from January, despite the occurrence of the school half term.
“February appeared to represent a sweet spot in terms of returning footfall, with consumers’ confidence riding high on the back of the removal of Covid restrictions.
“However, the concern for retailers over the coming months must be the likely impact on spending of rising household energy prices and fuel costs.”
