The number of shoppers rose on all types of high street, but the most modest rises were seen in coastal towns (+0.5%) historic towns (+1.6%), and in regional cities outside of London (+1.7%)
Springboard insight director Diane Wehrle said: “Shoppers braved the ongoing rain and ventured back into retail destinations last week with footfall rising from the week before. However, it was high streets rather than shopping centres or retail parks that drove the uplift, and the result was a largely a result of a bounce back from a drop in shopper activity that occurred over the bank holiday weekend the week before.
“Shoppers continued to demonstrate a greater desire to visit their local high streets than large city centres across the UK, although it seems that Central London is becoming more appealing with a rise in footfall last week that was the second highest of any type of high street, only lower than in market towns.”
With the rises continuing week by week, we have to consider if all shops and high streets have safety measures in place, to help prevent over crowding in shops and creating a safe space for their customers.
According to research by Sensormatic Solutions, involving over 1,000 Brits, 55% remain wary about safety in-store.
Social distancing is the top concern, with 73% fearing other shoppers wouldn’t respect the 2m rule, while 59% worried about contracting the virus in a retail setting and a further 48% were concerned they might unwittingly pass Covid-19 on to others whilst in-store.
When it came to making customers feel safer, better policing of social distancing came out top for 49% of people, while 47% wanted more contactless experiences, such as self-check-out or ‘just walk out’ technologies.
44% wanted the number of shoppers allowed inside stores more closely monitored. 42% called for a mask detection system, while 29% said temperatures should be taken on the door before allowing customers inside physical locations.
