UK shoppers flock back to the stores as bumper retail weekend looms

Sales surge but footfall is still down markedly from pre-Covid pandemic level

Shoppers are expected to flood to high streets and shopping centres in England and Wales this weekend after a bumper week, particularly for clothing and homewares sales, as people make the most of the reopening of non-essential stores.

Visitors to high streets, retail parks and shopping malls rose by 90% from Monday to Thursday compared with the same days in the previous week, thanks to the reopening of non-essential stores as well as hospitality venues, according to the latest data from analysts at Springboard. However, numbers were still just over a quarter below those seen over the same week in 2019, before the pandemic hit.