U.K. stores saw another uptick in the number of shoppers venturing out as restrictions started lifting following the region’s third COVID-19 lockdown, Reuters reported on Monday (March 22).
The number of people heading out to shops across Britain rose by 0.5 percent in the week leading to March 20 from a week earlier, the eighth rise in nine weeks despite a national lockdown, market researcher Springboard said, per Reuters.
The research firm indicated that shopper numbers — also known as footfall — increased 4 percent on U.K. high streets, but dropped 4.4 percent in retail parks and 2.3 percent in shopping centers. Compared to the same week in 2020, footfall across Britain was down 40.8 percent, Springboard said, per Reuters.
England locked down again on Jan. 4 due to escalating coronavirus cases and an overburdened healthcare system. Some essential shops — food and home improvement — were allowed to remain open. Most schools and workplaces went remote, with plans to send students back to classrooms on April 12. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland followed suit with similar restrictions.
A recent warning from within the region’s scientific community caused the tourism industry to lose any confidence that international travel will adequately rebound this summer. Mike Tildesley, a professor of infectious disease modeling at the University of Warwick, said the average person is unlikely to travel abroad in the summer of 2020 due to the proliferation of new COVID-19 variants worldwide.
England started to announce plans to ease lockdowns at the end of February with plans to reopen schools on March 8. The U.K. economy has contracted to levels not seen in the past 300 years. Last year was the region’s worst year on record since 1709.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More