Shopping centres report high Christmas footfall
Published: 14 December, 2010
The Frenchgate shopping centre in Doncaster and Highcross Leicester have both reported higher footfall levels than last year welcoming around 400,000 visitors each in one week alone.
Footwear is proving popular at Highcross with a 17 per cent increase in sales compared to those in the same week in 2009 with jewellery sales up by more than 20 per cent compared to last year. Sales in health and beauty, men’s fashion and toys and games are also doing well.
Jo Tallack, general manager at Highcross, said: “During the first full week in December we’ve seen a real soar in visitors, which has increased trade by a massive 14 per cent compared to the week before. Pandora jewellery is proving to be one of the most popular Christmas gifts again this year.
“Compared to last year, trade was up by seven per cent last week, which – in this climate – is a fantastic achievement for all of our retailers.”
The Frenchgate Centre welcomed over 57,000 shoppers each weekday with 75,000 people passing through the doors on Saturday.
Frenchgate centre manger Amanda Phillips said: “The footfall figures are an extremely encouraging indicator that people are still looking to spend over the Christmas period. On Monday 6 December we saw an increase of four percent on last year and we are expecting it to continue until after Christmas.”
Highcross is expecting more than two million visitors over the festive period, with many visiting during Highcross’ extended opening hours on weekday evenings. Santa’s Grotto has proved popular as well as the EA Games roadshow and visitors will be able to have their photo taken inside a giant snow globe during Christmas week.
