Selfridges, Kurt Geiger, Intu hail shopper appetite as stores reopen
High-end retailers have struck a positive note after the first day of their stores being reopen since the coronavirus lockdown started in March.
Selfridges, the London department store, said that footfall had been greater than expected, while other retailers and venues gave similar indications.
Selfridges said: “We have been pleasantly surprised by the response as we reopened our doors, and it is great to see some of our regular customers too.
“We are of course conscious this is day one but today has exceeded our expectations.”
Shoes and accessories were particularly strong sellers at the central London department store, which also has a site in Birmingham.
Meanwhile, shopping centre giant Intu reported a 223 per cent increase in visitors compared to the previous Monday, after about four in 10 stores in its centres flung open their doors for the first time in months.
Gavin Prior, operations director at Intu, said the “early signs are encouraging,” and that new safety measures were “working effectively”.
“Footfall across all Intu centres was naturally lower than the same day last year,” he said, but stressed the steep rise in footfall compared to the previous week.
“We expect the number of visitors to steadily increase towards the weekend as more of us look to venture out to the shops and more brands reopen.”
Kurt Geiger, the upmarket shoe seller, reported that sales across its shops in England were up about 50 per cent versus the same day last year.
The retailer’s shops in Covent Garden and Westfield Shepherd’s Bush outperformed, however, with sales more than doubling.
Kurt Geiger chief executive Neil Clifford said that the day was better than expected.
But he cautioned that yesterday was “obviously different to what a normal day would be and we really need consistency on a day by day basis for us to be truly encouraged”.