Summer brings ray of sunshine to Scottish high streets

The footfall rate was above the three-month average of -0.9 per cent and the twelve-month average of -2.8 per cent.

Footfall grew on the High Street (1.8 per cent), the largest increase since April 2017 3.9 per cent, while it fell in Retail Parks 1.4 per cent and despite the strongest performance of all regions in Shopping Centres fell by -0.5 per cent.

The town centre vacancy rate for Scotland was 10.8 per cent in July 2018, an improvement from 11.2 per cent in April 2018. This is above the average vacancy rate for the UK, which remained unchanged at 9.2 per cent in July 2018 (9.2 per cent in April 2018).

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, SRC head of policy and external affairs, said: “Scotland’s shops finally saw customer footfall rise after over a year of decline. This welcome increase was driven by a jump in shoppers visiting the High Street and is a positive sign after a difficult winter. There was also a fall in the town centre vacancy rate; but regrettably Scottish town centres are still in a worse position than the UK average.

“Retailers will welcome the slight improvement in both measure, albeit recognising the improvement is from a low base. Nonetheless, the structural challenges facing the industry remain. Consumers continue to choose to shop online, and it’s clear for many bricks and mortar retailers the best approach is to continue to invest in multi-channel operations.

“That process would be eased if Government, at both Holyrood and Westminster, would look to reduce the burdens currently hampering the industry. Growing the economy, minimising costs to consumers, and supporting retailers as they invest in skills and technology are all essential to allow the industry to transition in as sustainable a manner as possible.”

Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard said: “The +0.5 per cent rise in footfall in retail destinations in Scotland in July counters the national result of -0.8 per cent. Whilst the hot weather in July impacted visits to retail destinations across the UK, in Scotland high streets demonstrated a stronger appeal than they did nationally, with a +1.8 per cent rise in footfall versus +0.3 per cent across the UK, which supported the overall result.

“Interestingly, despite the convenience of retail parks and the fact that nationally their footfall was supported via summer led purchases of garden furniture and BBQ’s, in Scotland they underperformed shopping centres. Footfall declined in Scotland’s retail parks by -2.1 per cent during trading hours versus -0.7 per cent across the UK. In contrast Scotland’s shopping centres were more resilient in July, with a -1.5 per cent drop in footfall during trading hours compared with -3.9 per cent across the UK. This is particularly significant at the current time as shopping centres are hampered by the dominance of fashion and department stores/large multi retail units, with footfall entering these types of stores declining by more than footfall generally. Shopping centre footfall post 5pm is also generally compromised due to a paucity of hospitality offer, however in Scotland centres footfall post 5pm rose by +4.1 per cent in July compared with -0.7 per cent across the UK.

“Scotland’s vacancy rate, at 10.6 per cent, remains higher than that for the UK for the fourth consecutive quarter. But it did improve over the quarter – one of five geographies which saw an improvement – which may be accounted for by temporary lets over the summer taking advantage of space released from stores that have ceased trading. However, the fact that the vacancy rate is now noticeably higher than the 9.3 per cent in July 2017 indicates that stores are finding it a challenging trading environment.”