Long queues outside stores as England and Wales come out of lockdown

Finally after 4 months, non-essential retailers came out of lockdown in England and Wales yesterday (12 April).

And the response, expectedly, has been no less than extra-ordinary. The customers seemed to have braved all the uncertainties as well as the April snow showers to come out and shop.

There were, reportedly, long queues outside the stores of many fashion retailers – including the likes of Primark, JD Sports or TK Maxx.

Even John Lewis, which reopened many of its stores along with changing rooms and shoe-fitting for children, saw decent footfall on the opening day.

In fact, the footfall yesterday morning (12 April) rose by a whopping 218 per cent (across all UK retail destinations) compared to what it was a week earlier. However, compared to 2019 period, it fell by 14.7 per cent.

On a year-on-year basis, the rise was a phenomenal 505.1 per cent – expectedly so again as last year during this period, the UK was in the midst of a complete lockdown.

Speaking of week-on-week performance, the footfall rose by 339.7 per cent in shopping centre sand 232.8 per cent in high streets. The retail parks saw a weekly footfall rise of 58.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged the nation to behave responsibly as social mixing indoors continues to remain heavily restricted all over the country.