Belfast footfall crash

Since the tragedy that struck the Bank Buildings housing the popular Primark store, there have been substantial efforts to increase footfall to the city centre. These efforts appear to have been in vain.

Covering the five weeks from August, 26 to September 29 the latest figures from the Springboard Footfall and Vacancies Monitor are bleak for Belfast city centre retail.

Footfall fell by 4.6 per cent in Northern Ireland in September. This is a higher rate of decline than the three-month average of -1.7 per cent and the twelve-month average of -1.9 per cent.

Footfall fell on the High Street and Retail Parks at -6.1 per cent, while its decline in Shopping Centres slowed by 0.2 per cent from -2.4 per cent in August.

The fire that broke out in the centre of Belfast in late August, destroying a historic building, appears to be causing major disruption for neighbouring businesses and retail in the area as a whole.

Aodhán Connolly, director for the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium stated:

“This drastic dip in shopper footfall after two good months comes directly on the back of the fire that affected Primark’s flagship store in Belfast City Centre, NI’s main retail destination.”

“This sad occurrence has effectively split Belfast’s busiest thoroughfare and the city centre in two. This is distressing not only for Primark and the fourteen businesses within the cordon who cannot open but also those in the locale who are affected by the footfall drop and their suppliers.”

“Both Primark and Belfast City Council have shown leadership and concern with support for traders and the area, but now we need the Chancellor in his forthcoming budget to make a tangible difference not only to Belfast but to the whole retail industry in this current time of structural change.”

“Most of all I want to reiterate our message to consumers which have been constant throughout this episode.”

“Belfast city centre is open for business and the traders need your support. With the crucial Christmas season fast approaching now more than ever we need you to spend your time and money in our stores.”

A word from Springboard

These thoughts were reiterated by the marketing and insights director for Springboard, Diane Wehrle. She advised that “A drop in footfall of -4.6 per cent in Northern Ireland in September compared with a modest rise of +0.5 per cent in footfall in August provides further evidence of the current challenges facing bricks and mortar retail.”

“Whilst it would be easy to put this down to the shift to online spending, the story is not nearly as cut and dried,” said Diane.

“The fire at the Primark store in Belfast which occurred in the first week of the month will have impacted on the monthly result to some degree as Belfast generates the greatest volume of footfall of any destination in Northern Ireland.”

“This is evidenced by a drop-in footfall in Belfast of more than -30 per cent, and consequently the sudden downward shift in high street footfall across Northern Ireland in September to -6.1 per cent following four months of consecutive rises.”

“At the same time, all indicators point to the fact that footfall also reflecting the underlying constraints on consumer spend generally.”

These include the lowest rate of growth in non-food online sales in September since January of +5.4 per cent which was just half what it was in September 2017, the highest-level consumer credit for five years, a recent increase in inflation, a 20 per cent drop in new car sales which is the worst since 2008, and a rise in house prices that is only a half what it was a year ago.”

“In addition, the recent well-publicised high street failures are likely to have made consumers more cautious about committing to large purchases in a number of our leading high street brands, either online or in bricks and mortar stores.”

“With all of these pressures, and the continued mild weather minimising the impetus to renew fashion items for autumn, at least some of the impact on footfall will be a consequence of consumers focussing on paying down debt and shoring up their finances in advance of the Christmas period.”