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Economy

Retail parks perform well as retail footfall continues to fall

Retail footfall in the UK was down 0.2% in October compared with the same month last year, unchanged from the decline in September.

That is according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard’s Footfall and Vacancies Monitor, which found the fall was slightly above the three-month average decline of 0.6%.

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Despite this, footfall in retail park locations increased 2.9% year-on-year, although this was down from September’s high of 4%. High streets and shopping centres reported a decline in footfall of 1% and 1.3% respectively.

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The national town centre vacancy rate was 9.1% in October 2015, down from the 9.8% rate reported in July 2015 – the lowest reported rate since records began in July 2011.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive at the BRC, said: “The locations consumers are choosing to shop remains in a state of flux.

“While the rate of decline in footfall across high streets and shopping centres appears to have stabilised, more and more shoppers are choosing to visit retail parks which offer a greater mix of leisure and retail.”

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