Snow costs shopping centres lost trade
MAJOR shopping centres across the North West lost hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of trade as a direct result of last week’s snowfall.
Dozens of shops either never opened last Tuesday or were forced to shut early amid the severe weather.
This comes despite centres reporting a ‘busy’ Christmas period which supports figures released by the British Retail Consortium that sales nationally rose 4.2% on a like-for-like basis from December 2008.
Manchester’s 230-store Trafford Centre reported record-breaking trade figures – with footfall for the six weeks to Christmas Day up 7% on the previous year while the figures for Boxing Day were up 10%.
A spokesman said that more than half the retailers managed to open last Tuesday when the snowfall was at its worst.
He said: “But worries about getting staff home safely meant we closed the centre completely at 4pm – this is the first time bad weather has closed the centre in 11 years since it opened.
“Debenhams was unable to open at all on the Tuesday. By Wednesday, we were back to normal, albeit with reduced staff in some areas.
“By the Thursday of last week, we were seeing trade that was helping to make up for the missed day.”
At the new £1bn Liverpool One retail centre, 18 businesses – out of 151 – remained closed when the snow first hit last Tuesday.
A Liverpool One spokesman said: “Among the 18 that were shut last Tuesday were HMV, The Entertainer, Pull & Bear, The Perfume Shop, Ollie & Nic and H&M.
“By last Wednesday, just three stores remained shut which were 2 Joes, Tie Rack and Zorba. Anecdotally, there was a drop in footfall last Tuesday although precise figures are not available.”
The spokesman added that some restaurants in Liverpool One reported that they were undertaking a ‘high number’ of covers even at the height of the snow last week.
He said: “We had outstanding sales and footfall figures over the Christmas period compared to this time last year and also the national average.
“For example, our Boxing Day footfall was up 48% year-on-year and sales were also up 79% year-on-year, which is phenomenal.”
A spokesman for the Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, in Ellesmere Port, said that 12 hours of trade was lost as a direct result of the bad weather.
The spokesman said: “Last week’s bad weather resulted in us closing at 4pm on Tuesday and also closing earlier than usual later in the week when late night shopping was due to take place.
“We estimate that there was a decline in footfall of between 10 and 15 per cent on the same week last year – and that owed much to the inability of shoppers to get to us from north Wales, Shrewsbury as well as Lancashire.
“We have seen trade stabilize and return to normal levels over the past few days which is important as January is always a peak period for us.”
Karen Bluff, North West retail leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) said that there has been an upside for many retailers over the past ten days.
She said: “It has been a good opportunity for retailers to shed the remains of their winter stock such as coats and woollens – and some of these items like gloves and scarves are even being sold at full price, when they would typically be discounted, thereby maximising their margins.
“While footfall on the high street will be lower due to the cold conditions, many retailers started their sales pre-Christmas, so retailers aren’t relying on January sales to boost revenues as much as they have done in previous years.
“Having said that, it may negatively impact retailers who have a quarter one year end rather than a calendar one, as it may serve to neutralise much of the strong trade over the Christmas period.”
