图片源于：https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/chance-for-capital-to-steal-glasgows-retail-crown-kevin-buckle-4692077
Footfall in Princes Street in May was up 6.9 per cent compared to the same period last year
There was worrying news for shops and restaurants in Glasgow city centre this week with news that compared to last year’s figure for May, footfall had dropped a staggering 410,000.
Meanwhile sales figures for April were also down by 12.3 per cent, the equivalent of £60 million. Richard Muir, deputy chief executive at Glasgow Chamber of Commerce called for retail to be helped with tax incentives and funding.
At the same time Ewan MacDonald-Russell, the Scottish Retail Consortium deputy head, said Glasgow’s status as a premier shopping destination “risks becoming a memory”. It is little surprise that in his response among other things he called for a reduction in non-domestic rates.
Things are more promising in Edinburgh for the same time period with footfall actually up 5.9 per cent and Princes Street doing slightly better, up 6.9 per cent. There is much talk about the cost of living crisis hitting city centres and that is certainly true but Edinburgh benefits far more than most from visitors from all over the world who having travelled so far do not cut back on their spending.
The most up to date figures show that visitors to Edinburgh are up just slightly by 0.1 per cent for the year but I’m sure city centre retailers will be happy with that, though of course there was a large boost just recently with the visit of Taylor Swift.
On a personal level Avalanche’s figures for June improved by 51 per cent from last year and were of course helped by the Taylor Swift Murrayfield concerts, but even without that boost takings would definitely have been up considerably more than a third. Even more amazingly the June 2024 figures are a fraction more than double the June 2022 figures.
Certainly though both Waverley Market and Princes Street still have much room for improvement. Hopefully the centre will be looking a lot better by the end of the year as the old Superdry space is taken, at least in part, by Danish retailer Søstrene Grene with other spaces due to be filled between now and Christmas.
Princes Street involves more long term plans and we are looking at projects taking several years. It has yet to be seen the effect the number of hotels there will be will have on Princes Street as a shopping street.
Certainly Edinburgh should not be too complacent and there is no doubt that visitors are currently very disappointed when walking along Edinburgh’s premier street and, to be honest, I’m not convinced that once the hotels are all up and running and some of the empty shops are taken that there will not still be a problem with empty shops and that will mean the need to reduce non-domestic will still be an issue.
Glasgow will no doubt take steps to try and rectify the problems they have identified but as Edinburgh knows these things never happen quickly and those who trade in the city centre will be worried that in fact things may get worse.
