Boost for Scotland’s retailers

Last month proved to be a shot of sunshine for many of Scotlands high streets. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

Shoppers hit the Scottish high street in force last month, with a 4.4 per cent year-on-year jump in footfall, the highest regional figure for the UK.

Meanwhile, the store vacancy rate in Scotland came in at 9.1 per cent, an improvement on the 10.7 per cent recorded previously, the latest Springboard/British Retail Consortium survey reveals.

Diane Wehrle, a director at Springboard, said the Commonwealth Games had helped underpin the rise in footfall, which compares with a 0.6 per cent dip across the UK as a whole – the fourth month in a row of declines.

She added: “It is high streets that benefited most with an increase in footfall of 6 per cent compared with just 1.6 per cent in shopping centres.

“Footfall to out-of-town locations rose by 4 per cent, which may well be a result of the displacement of local shoppers from town centres, where tourists dominated.”