{"id":676518,"date":"2026-11-06T07:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T07:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/676518\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T07:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T07:24:21","slug":"storms-and-soaring-costs-combine-to-send-shopper-footfall-sliding-in-october-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/676518\/","title":{"rendered":"Storms and soaring costs combine to send shopper footfall sliding in October \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shopper footfall fell sharply in October as stormy weather and rising household costs combined to deter consumers, figures show.<\/p>\n

Total UK footfall was down 4.7% year-on-year in October, sliding from a 2.9% drop in September, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Sensormatic.<\/p>\n

The high street was hit hardest of all shopper destinations, with visits down 5.2% year-on-year, dropping from a 3% fall in September.<\/p>\n

Retail park footfall fell by 3.6%, while shopping centres suffered a 4.1% drop on last October.<\/p>\n

\"Storms<\/a>\"Convicted<\/a><\/p>\n

Overall footfall was down 3.1% in Northern Ireland, 4.3% in Scotland, 4.6% in England and by 6.3% in Wales.<\/p>\n

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: \u201cFootfall fell sharply in every part of the UK in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cLow consumer confidence was likely a key factor in the decline in visitors, as households navigated rising inflation and high energy costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf all destinations, high streets were hit the hardest, as the stormy weather led many consumers to stay home or use locations with easy parking options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a new Government high street strategy, the rejuvenation of our shopping destinations is a clear priority.<\/p>\n

\"HalloweenHalloween was said to have delivered \u2018a brief seasonal uplift\u2019 (Alamy Stock Photo) <\/p>\n

\u201cTo do this, we must make them safe for both shoppers and retail staff. While there are positive signs that the police are cracking down on organised crime and repeat offenders, it is vital that the Government grants the police the powers promised in the Crime and Policing Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commencement of this legislation would scrap the \u00a3200 threshold for low-level theft and give workers the protections they need, making our high streets safer for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Sumpter, head of consulting and analytics at Sensormatic, said: \u201cHalloween delivered a brief seasonal uplift, but beyond that, retailers found little to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe month\u2019s performance suggests that shoppers are continuing to prioritise essential spending, leaving discretionary retail expenditure under pressure despite the arrival of the Golden Quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttention now turns squarely towards the Black Friday period, which increasingly looks like a critical opportunity to inject some momentum into a Golden Quarter that has so far struggled to live up to its name.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shopper footfall fell sharply in October as stormy weather and rising household costs combined to deter consumers, figures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[259060,39714,72,33513,1312,943,113,286593,61,60,4674,286594,12508,1577],"class_list":["post-676518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-brc","tag-british-retail-consortium","tag-business","tag-city","tag-consumer","tag-cost-of-living","tag-economy","tag-footfall","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-retail","tag-sensormatic","tag-shoppers","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}