Figures released by the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) revealed a two per cent drop in trade across the country however Neil Mackie, who is manager of the Kingsgate Centre, said the picture was a good one in the city.
“We don’t have the accurate figures as we don’t get turnover from tenants but, in general, the picture has been pretty buoyant,” he said.
“Feedback we have had – and there are very very few exceptions – was it was a very good Christmas. I would say the three weeks in the run up to Christmas were exceptional. I witnessed that myself. The place was jumping with customers.”
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Mr Mackie said that previously, shopper numbers had dipped after Black Friday but this was not the case in December 2024.
“Since the introduction of Black Friday, I always thought that would affect the Christmas trade which it has done in previous years but from Black Friday onwards, we went through the roof.
“There have been many tenants who have been totally blowing their targets out of the water. It has been really encouraging for the centre.”
Across the UK, Scotland was the best performing of the four home nations in December despite the drop in shoppers.
Andy Sumpter from Sensormatic Solutions said 2024 was the “second consecutive year” of falling shopper numbers in Scotland.
“While December saw some flurries of festive footfall around a few key trading days, overall, the picture was filled with much less sparkle as shopper traffic remained subdued in what should have been the highlight of the golden quarter,” he said.
“While store visits did build ahead of Christmas, it was never quite enough to reverse the shopper count deficit against last year.
“As footfall limped towards the festive finish line, December’s lacklustre performance compounds a disappointing end to 2024, marking the second consecutive year of declining store traffic.
“Retailers will now need to look afresh to 2025 and chart a course to adopt innovative strategies to reverse this trend or maximise the sales potential of fewer visitors, finding new ways to make each store visit count.”