Retail and leisure complex Liverpool ONE says new footfall figures for the first week of 2024 represents its strongest start to a year for five years. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool ONE is reporting its strongest start to a year for five years and it follows on from the complex’s busiest ever Christmas at the end of 2023.
In the first week of 2024 Liverpool ONE saw visitor numbers up 10% on the same week in 2023. It recorded more than 3.9m visitors during the festive period, equating to a 1.9% uplift from 2022.
This goes against the national picture, for which early analysis shows a 3.5% drop in footfall across the country’s retail hotspots, according to ShopperTrak.
Year-on-year sales also soared by 5.3%, with entertainment, beauty and menswear proving to be among the most popular types of purchase.
Entertainment has come out on top at Liverpool ONE, with this sector seeing a substantial rise in turnover during Christmas, helped by Liverpool ONE’s latest addition Gravity MAX in the former Debenhams unit.
Beauty sales have increased, supported by the arrival of Space NK. Menswear has seen a strong performance in sales supported by the upsize of brands such as BOSS, while food and drink outperformed during the festive period.
Across 2023, Liverpool ONE welcomed 25 brands, totalling 275,000 sq ft. Milestone openings included Gravity MAX and Marks & Spencer, both of which launched as part of a major asset management initiative by Liverpool One operator Grosvenor.
Other highlights included the opening of Goldsmiths’ largest showroom to date and other regional flagship stores including Swarovski, BOSS, Hollister, Gilly Hicks, Sweaty Betty, Space NK, Swatch and TAG Heuer.
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Chris Jukes, Grosvenor’s director of Liverpool ONE, said: “2023 was a milestone year for Liverpool ONE.
“Not only did we celebrate our 15 year anniversary and play a role in helping the city to host Eurovision 2023, but from a leasing perspective, we continued to attract retail firsts, international flagship openings, creative pop-ups, and independent and local brands.
“Liverpool ONE has never been a destination which steps and repeats but we always strive to be big and bold in all that we do. 2024 will be no different as we will continue to innovate, evolve and contribute to the city centre and wider Liverpool city region.”