Shoppers flocked to St Pancras for luxury goods from John Lewis and Fortnum & Mason over Christmas
St Pancras International scored an uplift in sales over the festive season, as shoppers flocked to the train station to stock up on Christmas gifts.
Over the ten weeks from 29 October to 31 December, St Pancras scored a 6.2 per cent sales growth year-on-year. This compared to a growth of 1.7 per cent across the retail sector as a whole.
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Sales over Christmas week jumped 39 per cent year-on-year, helped by the fact that Christmas day fell on a Sunday last year.
St Pancras attracted shoppers with festive decorations and a Christmas tree designed in partnership with Cirque du Soleil. There was also a piano installed in the station shopping hall, which Jools Holland popped in to play on the week before Christmas.
Need any last minute #Christmas gifts? We are here to help with extended opening times in the run up to Christmas! https://t.co/DcddY60QYi pic.twitter.com/gteBAVBKx4
— St. Pancras International (@StPancrasInt) December 22, 2016
Great to see Jools Holland playing our Piano on @BBCNews! Check out @BBCiPlayer for the clip starting at 9.20 https://t.co/c1xRRnJ9dI pic.twitter.com/NRx4QLvF5a
— St. Pancras International (@StPancrasInt) December 22, 2016
The station benefited from a 5.2 per cent uplift in the number of transactions completed as compared to the same period last year.
Luxury brands such as Fortnum & Mason performed particularly well over the Christmas period – the Fortnum & Mason chief executive Ewan Venters even tweeted his St Pancras shopping experience on 23 December.
@Fortnums @StPancrasInt busy busy…. #FortnumsChristmas pic.twitter.com/bdsmuyhBcG
— Ewan Venters OBE (@ewanventers) December 23, 2016
St Pancras' John Lewis outlet reported a particularly busy trading day on 27 December.
Wendy Spinks, commercial director of HS1 Ltd, the company that owns St Pancras, said: "These figures represent another excellent year for retail at St Pancras. Working closely with the fantastic range of retailers at the station we have managed to once again highlight the station's reputation as a great place to do your Christmas shopping."
The station was designed by William Barlow and opened in 1868, but it became a particularly popular shopping destination when it re-opened in 2007 following a £800m restoration.