LIVERPOOL’S retail experts identified key explanations for the city’s performance this Christmas and its ability to confound other national trends.
Ian Ward, centre director of St Johns who was recently made Chairman of Liverpool City Central Business Improvement District (BID), said Liverpool’s ability to “work in partnerships to continually improve Liverpool’s offer for shoppers” was fundamental.
He added: “If you go right across the country and look at secondary shopping centres in big city centres, you will find empty units.
“But this is simply not the case at St Johns, which highlights just how strongly Liverpool performs compared to its national rivals.”
According to the city’s retail chiefs there are also several sectors which drive growth.
This is primarily spending on women’s fashion - clothing more broadly - and beauty. People in Liverpool spend more per head on clothing than in Manchester and four times more per head on beauty than anywhere else in the country.
This has been reflected in the much-trumpeted success of the UK’s first Beauty Bazaar Harvey Nichols in Liverpool ONE.
Another is that Liverpool is still making up for decades of lost shoppers and therefore has not yet reached capacity.
For instance, 12% of Liverpool ONE’s visitors were first visitors and they have seen a 27% increase in their catchment area since 2010.
