Not even a school half-term holiday was able to lift February UK retail footfall into positive numbers as the struggling economy, chain store closures, rail strikes and storms continued to challenge retailers. 

That’s the view of retail analysts MRI Software whose latest figures show footfall declined for the second consecutive month, down 2.2% year-on-year across all UK retail destinations.

However, compared with January, footfall across UK retail destinations did rise 8.3%, “continuing to follow historical trends of footfall rebounding following the first month of every year”, noted MRI.

But February’s ongoing yearly decline was largely driven by a 3.5% drop in footfall across high streets followed by a 2.3% decline in shopping centres. 
 
At least retail parks did continue to be the one bright consumer magnet, showing an albeit slender 0.9% rise in visitor numbers. The report said their continuing gains reflected landlords that are optimising their tenant mix “to cater for the changing needs and wants of their consumers”.

And of course, the overall pictured would have been so much worse without the February’s half-term school break, contributing to an overall rise in footfall of 8.3% from the month before across all UK retail destinations.

This weekly gain was largely driven by high streets witnessing an 11.4% gain, followed by shopping centres (+6.9%) and retail parks (+3.3%).
 
But MRI said the general economic situation appears to be weighing heavily on retailers with footfall levels sitting 2.2% lower than 2023, highlighting the “true impact of store closures, from anchor brands, on retail destinations”.
 
It cited the “significant amount of brands” such as John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, and Boots that have streamlined physical store operations over the last 12 months through closures. “For some locations these may act as anchor stores serving a vital role in driving footfall to that location”.

And of course, there’s been more news on that front this month with plans for multiple Body Shop closures.

Jenni Matthews, Marketing & Insights Director for MRI Software, said: “Financial pressures are mounting for consumers and this was evident in the final week of February when footfall declined by -8.6% across all retail destinations.

“Given that this was half term for some regions, we would naturally have anticipated a boost in activity but this may highlight consumers continuing to tighten their purse strings especially with payday not occurring until the end of that week for some.”

She added: “As we head into March, retail destinations should approach this with optimism as the second largest trading period falls towards the end of the month; Easter. Falling a week earlier than last year, this shift allows retail destinations to benefit from the holiday build up starting around the third week of the month.”