126,000-plus shoppers throng Shop Street over the weekend

By Dara Bradley

It has traditionally been the busiest shopping day of the year in Galway City but the popularity of Christmas shopping on December 8 has waned this year according to new footfall figures.

The GCBA’s (Galway City Business Association) pedestrian counter on Shop Street shows that December 8, which fell on a Saturday this year, was only slightly more popular with shoppers than the previous Saturday, December 1, and less popular than last Saturday, December 15.

Last Saturday, some 49,954 people passed through Shop Street, according to the counting device, more than 2,000 more than Saturday, December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, when 47,732 people ‘clicked through’ the counter.

The previous Saturday, December 1, four days before the Government’s austere Budget for 2013 was unveiled, some 47,393 people were counted in and out of Shop Street.

Over the weekend just gone, a total of 126,360 people were counted on Shop Street, from Friday through to Sunday, with Saturday the busiest with an hourly average visits to the city’s main thoroughfare of 1,755. Last Saturday has recorded the busiest footfall so far in the lead up to Christmas.

On Budget day, Wednesday December 5, a total of 29,384 people visited Shop Street, compared with 29,850 the following Wednesday, December 12.

The pedestrian counter shows that Shop Street was far busier in the Summer months during the Volvo Ocean Race grand finale than it has been so far in the lead up to Christmas, although increased footfall does not necessarily equate to an increase in spend in the shops.

On Saturday, June 30, during the Volvo event, some 53,281 people passed through Shop Street, and the following Saturday, July 7, some 64,583 people were counted on Shop Street, the busiest day since the counters were installed in June.

Gill Carroll of GCBA said the data collected could be very useful for businesses, among other things, trying to predict how much staff they would need on any given day, based on previous days.

“This information is invaluable, if we have counters in place next year retailers will be able to compare footfall figures year-on-year. It will also empower the retailers with vital information so they can best plan for 2013 in terms of opening hours, marketing plans, rota planning,” she said.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel