Long queues of shoppers formed outside stores in England on Monday, as coronavirus restrictions on non-essential retailers were lifted, but figures showed the number of visitors to high streets and retail parks was a third lower than this time last year.
On London’s Oxford Street, the UK’s best-known shopping destination, Selfridges, Zara and Nike Town did brisk business as shoppers returned after three months at home, while in other parts of the country Primark was a big draw for customers, and some of its stores opened early to meet demand.
However, despite the interest from shoppers, retail analyst Springboard said the number of visits to high streets in England was down by -45.3% year-on-year, and across all retail destinations in the country visitor numbers had fallen by -35.9%.
Many outlets remained closed, including John Lewis’s flagship store on Oxford Street, and restaurants and cafes are still locked down. At the same time the tourists and office workers who support some high streets have not yet been able to return.
Intu, which owns shopping centres around the UK, said only around 40% of its retailers were open, although more were planning to open over the next week or so.
Shoppers heading for the high street will have to get used to new rules before and after they enter stores.
The queues were partly explained by retailers placing restrictions on the number of people who can be inside at any one time. Stock has been spread out to allow physical distancing and some items can no longer be handled by browsers.
Pictures of crowds queuing at Bicester Village, a designer retail outlet in Oxfordshire, prompted anger online at the apparent lack of social distancing. A petition calling for the complex to close until they had a solution in place to ensure the safety of shoppers and staff had gathered more than 3,000 signatures on Monday night.
John Lewis, which on Monday opened only two of its 50 stores, is using disposable covers for customers who want to test furniture and asking people to wear disposable socks before they try on shoes.
It said the top sellers at its Kingston branch had included buttons, designer face masks, egg cups, baby sleepsuits and china sets, while in Poole shoppers snapped up towels, sofas, bedding, TVs and printer cartridges.
Marks & Spencer, which reopened 208 shops and 25 Outlet stores, said it had focused on “comfortable casualwear” and kidswear, but some customers had bought smarter clothes for work.
Ricky Young, who was at Nike Town to buy trainers, was part of a queue that began to form two hours before the store opened at 11am. He said it felt like a return to some kind of normality, although he had not expected it to be busy when he arrived.
“I actually thought people might have been sleeping or didn’t want to go out,” he said. “But the doors are open again, it’s back to almost normal, back to business – but we just have to line up.”
Outside the capital, branches of Primark and Sports Direct were among those attracting large numbers of customers before they opened.
In Liverpool, the queue for Primark stretched around the shop and along a street behind, before the retailer opened its doors at 7.20am.
The retailer does not have an online shop and had lost £650m a month in sales while shops were closed across Europe.
Mia Melia, 20, arrived at the Liverpool branch just after 8am. “I needed pyjamas and all sorts really,” she said.
“I have done some shopping online during lockdown but when things arrive they don’t always fit. It did feel a bit weird in there because it has been months since anyone has been in.”
In Sunderland, the Northern Echo reported a mile-long queue outside Sports Direct and there were similar scenes at some of the retailer’s other branches.
Sports Direct, run by Mike Ashley, was encouraging shoppers to visit with the offer of a 50% discount for NHS workers.
Springboard said the weather had “undoubtedly helped high streets”, as shoppers were content to queue outside when it was warm and sunny.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “Footfall has risen by more than we anticipated, but it was certainly helped by the weather which made queuing a more pleasurable experience.”
Its figures showed that by 5pm footfall on England’s high streets was up by 50.5% on last Monday, while across all retail destinations there were 38.8% more shoppers as shopping centres and retail parks saw a smaller rise.
In Scotland and Wales where non-essential shops remain closed, when compared to last year footfall was down by 67.5% and 54.4% respectively. In Northern Ireland, where they reopened on Friday, the fall was 44.9%.
Springboard indicates that retail footfall is sure to rise even further during the coming weeks as the government continues to relax restrictions. Further data from the study highlights what consumers have missed most during lockdown are restaurants and cafes (32%), fashion (21%) and entertainment (16%) so it is expected that consumers will continue to flock to retail destinations once restaurants and cinemas are allowed to reopen.
The government has urged people to get out and spend money to prop up an economy damaged by three months of lockdown.