THERE was plenty of festive cheer for city centre stores as thousands more shoppers flocked into the heart of Worcester to get their Christmas presents.
A dry spell of weather and revamped Christmas decorations in one of the city’s main shopping centres were highlighted as the key differences this year as business owners reported “positive” figures.
A total of 7.8 per cent more people came into the city centre in the week commencing Sunday, December 14, with the final Saturday before Christmas once again proving to be the busiest day.
The increase in numbers was felt at CrownGate Shopping Centre as manager Ramsey Floyd told The Observer they almost doubled last year’s footfall figures during the festive period.
“There were a couple of patches where we were up one day and down the next, but overall it was a very positive story for us as footfall was about 45 per cent up on last year,” he said.
“Our Christmas decorations were in a different theme this year which have received a lot of positive feedback, while our tenants have had some decent offers on and the customers have responded superbly to that.
“Businesses still want to make sure their margins are protected so they are cautious to do anything too silly, but I think there is a positive feeling now which is completely different to previous years.”
Adrian Field, head of Worcester BID, said they had also received plenty of positive feedback from traders as the week beginning December 21 saw footfall increase by 6.8 per cent.
“Footfall is not the be all and end up, which was why the district rangers have gone out and spoken to traders,” he said. “As we are now out of the recession, targets were higher and after looking at the feedback 13 out of the 14 businesses said they had done well.
“The weather has been generally good for shopping and for eating out as well, which has made a difference this year.”
