Out Of Town Shopping Centres Feel The Effect Of Petrol Price Hikes
Posted by Raphael Giacardi on
Britain’s high streets could be headed for something of a renaissance, according to Sir Stuart Rose, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, who suggests the rising price of petrol is deterring many shoppers from travelling to out-of-town malls.
Speaking at the recent BRC Annual Conference, Mr Rose said he believed that increasing numbers of people were now weighing up the option of spending £30 to fill up their tanks with petrol to go to Bluewater shopping centre or instead visiting their local high street. He also noted that M&S is already noticing changes in traffic patterns.
To add weight to Mr Rose's forecast, SPSL, the footfall monitor, has revealed that visits to retail parks such as Meadowhall in Sheffield and Gateshead's Metro Centre were down by 6.8% in May against the same month last year.
“We're seeing a return to the high street...with developments in Leeds and Dublin and Liverpool. I'm quite optimistic, and we'll not see any more Bluewater's. We're just about done on out-of-town,” he predicts.
This could be good news for high street independent retailers who've come under intense pressure from out-of-town competition. However, some doubt a change is really materialising. Catherine Ward, owner of Deli Kats, which is only a few miles from Bluewater, says,”I'm not sure people are really coming back to the high street. In fact, what most shops in the town have noticed is how quiet business is at the moment – this is very unusual for the summer. I don't know whether this is caused by the credit crunch or the holidays, but it doesn't feel like we get more customers than usual.”
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