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Published On: February 1, 2022

The following analysis contains data for the devices at Westdaw, S.C Fuller, Dorking Sports Centre, Calliope, Bernard Marcus, Renee’s Health Food Store, Dorking Light & Shade, Westcott & Williams and The Optical Studio.

  • Across GB, footfall rose in early December at the end of the circuit breaker lockdown which came into effect in November.
  • This increase was short-lived due to the introduction of Tier 4 restrictions in Dorking from the 20th December 2020.
  • Dorking saw non-essential shops, hospitality venues, gyms and hairdressers all close again during this period – equating to 54% of the total shops in the town.

Weekly footfall profile

  • Figure 1 shows the change in weekly footfall from December 2019 to 2020.
  • Footfall is now higher in the middle of the week (Tuesday to Thursday) than in 2019, and lower in the peak trading days (Friday and Saturday).
  • This is due to the pent-up demand for Christmas shopping and the fear of contracting the virus leading to shoppers visiting the high street on non-peak days.
  • In addition, with a large percentage of the population working remotely, local residents can visit their high streets more frequently in the weekday leading to a spread-out trading pattern.
  • The increase in Sunday trading could be explained by Dorking entering Tier 4 on Sunday 20th December, leading to an increase in footfall as families shopped for supplies ahead of Christmas week. The introduction of the Sunday market would also have had an impact.

Overall footfall volume

  • Figure 2 shows the weekly footfall throughout December for active footfall devices.
  • Bernard Marcus was the only device to see no change in footfall volume in December. Estate agents were able to remain trading as they were classified as essential retail.
  • Dorking Sports Centre saw the biggest increase in footfall in Week 49 due to the sports centre reopening in this week.
  • Apart from Dorking Sports Centre, Calliope saw the biggest drop in footfall in Week 52, with the gift store likely to have been impacted by the move to online for gifting for the Christmas period.

Week-on-week change in footfall

  • Figure 4 shows the rise in footfall in Week 50 at the end of the national lockdown and back to the tiered system in Dorking.
  • The announcement of Tier 4 at the end of Week 51 caused a drop in footfall in Week 52 across all devices other than Bernard Marcus, which is classified as an essential retailer.
  • Figure 5 shows that there was a 10% rise in footfall in the first week of December (Week 50), while the move to Tier 4 saw footfall drop -41.8% week-on-week in Week 52.

Raw Data

LDC_Dorking_December_Footfall_Dashboard

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