Major improvement for retailers as optimism continues to grow

RETAILERS have reported a major improvement in trading last month amid growing optimism in the beleaguered sector.
Trinity LeedsTrinity Leeds
Trinity Leeds

Figures published today show UK shop footfall in January was 1.6 per cent higher than a year ago, up on the 2.4 per cent fall in December.

The performance is the best since December 2011 and the first rise since July, according to the British Retail Consortium.

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The North of England, including Yorkshire, was one of the best performing regions with increased footfall in line with the national average and behind only Greater London, which saw a surge of 3.2 per cent year-on-year, and the East Midlands, where it was up 2.9 per cent.

In other parts, sales varied between increases of 1.1 per cent in the West Midlands to a fall of 1.8 per cent in Scotland.

Helen Dickinson, the director general of the British Retail Consortium, said more shoppers were “out and about” in January.

“It’s good news for retailers and it helps to explain the rise is sales we reported earlier in the month, demonstrating that UK shoppers were enthusiastically checking out the promotions available during the sales season,” she said.

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“Out-of-town retail parks and shopping centres did particularly well this month.

“The High Street performed a little worse, with numbers of shoppers dropping slightly by 0.6 per cent.”

She admitted the number of vacant shop units across the country remained high at 11 per cent.

“Empty shops hurt local economies and there is still a need to reduce the costs of operating property by reforming the business rates system,” she added.

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Yorkshire’s retail economy has been boosted by the opening of the £350m Trinity Leeds centre – believed to be the biggest new development in Europe last year. It had already attracted 10 million shoppers barely five months after its opening, including many in the evening due to extended opening hours.

John Lewis will open only its second store in the region at Monks Cross in York in April, while work has begun on the long-delayed Westfield Broadway shopping centre in Bradford.

Tom Riordan, the chief executive officer at Leeds City Council, said: “We believe the early success of Trinity and the First Direct Arena have increased footfall into Leeds city centre by two million visitors, so these figures confirm that welcome trend.

“With the inevitable increase in online retailing, visits to city centres need to be about more than just shopping, and the investment and innovations in Leeds all help, whether that’s world-leading acts at the cultural venues, free wi-fi on Briggate, our investment in Kirkgate market, or the new concept of Trinity Kitchen.

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“We can’t stand still either and the planned investments by Hammerson and John Lewis at Victoria Gate, TCS at the Merrion and Network Rail in Leeds station are all part of our plan to enhance our city centre experience.”

Mark Goldstone, the head of business representation and policy at Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, added: “The latest data is encouraging and supports our recent survey findings in which we reported business confidence at a 10-year high.

“There are still some underlying issues, especially for smaller businesses around cash flow and access to finance, but generally we are seeing economic growth.

“For the retail sector there are additional factors around responding to the way consumers shop but for those companies which embrace the internet and digital channels including social media and weave it into their business model then they will be well positioned to benefit from growing consumer confidence.”