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Retail footfall in British high streets bounced back from the pandemic-driven sluggish shopper numbers around January 2023. But despite the recovering numbers, high streets still struggled with diminishing visits and frequent fluctuations. In the most recently reported period (June 2026), there was a decrease of *** percent of visitors to UK high streets after a year-on-year decrease the previous month. Similar fluctuations in footfall trends appeared in shopping centers as well. 

Retail locations out of favor

With more and more shoppers turning to the convenience of online shopping, the landscape of high street retailing is transforming as store closures are dealing many retail and leisure store categories hard blows. This was exacerbated by the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2024, there were over * store closures in the United Kingdom.

Store closures before the pandemic

Even before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit, UK retail sector had been going through what many have dubbed as "the retail apocalypse". Many retailers saw store closures and ensuing job losses a year before the pandemic. Among these, Poundland had the highest number of staff lay-offs resulting from store closures.