Footfall on Bournemouth’s high streets is decreasing

The number of closed shops down Bournemouth’s high street is ever increasing.

Shop owners say some reasons for this could be because of the rise of online shopping, the high street looking less appealing or the increased parking charges.

Steve Taylor, the co-director of the independent shop Fab Frocks, in Bournemouth said: “A number of areas are causing this shift such as convenience, product availability and price.

“Combine this with the increasing numbers of empty units and rising parking charges, and suddenly the high street looks less appealing.”

A recent report by Ipsos Retail Performance has shown a decrease in the amount of people visiting the high street shops.

From the end of 2017 to the end of 2018 the footfall on the UK’s highstreets was down by 9.2%.

The report states this was particularly the case in the south west of England.

Dr Tim Denison, the director of retail intelligence at Ipsos Retail Performance reviewed that October last year was the most “placid month of the year” in terms of the amount of people setting foot onto the UK’s high streets.

With the rise in technology many people are turning to the online version of the store.

Julia Aitken, the owner of Stanwells Boutique in Bournemouth town benefits from her website, she said: “Sales in store are affected as at times we have sold out of a size, customers now have the choice to look elsewhere online for that.

“Prior to online stores, customers would possibly have bought another item in store.”

Bournemouth town centre. Photo by Maddie Ursell

Uptown Girl in Bournemouth town centre has been open for 32 years, however does not have an online website.

Tirlochan Kaur Lall, the owner of the shop believes that parking charges are a reason why high street shops are closing down.

“In Bournemouth particularly it’s parking charges, that is the main problem.”

Uptown Girl is about to close down and Tirlochan believes this is because the online shopping businesses are a lot cheaper.

She said: “People do come to us, especially this Thriller stuff its very good, they just come to try things on and then they go and buy it online so we can see how this does affect us.”