Footfall has picked up since non-essential retail opened last Monday with some encouraging figures towards the end of last week and this week. Considering the 5 mile travel restriction, some retailers still not open and no pubs, cafes or restaurants operating or just offering a takeaway service, the fact that last Saturday footfall was 62% of what is was on the same day last year, Sunday was 75%, Monday 71% and Tuesday 74% then we should be encouraged by these figures. (Source: Springboard)
The queues have all been well managed by retailers’ own staff with support from Council Marshals and our own Ambassadors. We haven’t seen the problems associated with certain businesses when they opened in England. This presents a good message to the public that the city centre is being managed well.
Some stores are doing better then others, as expected, and it will be really interesting to see patterns emerge over the next few weeks to see if footfall and spend continues to increase. Spend per head is up and there is inevitably less browsing and more purpose to people’s shopping.
Car Parking
Accessing the car parks hasn’t been an issue to date with plenty of spaces being reported to be available in the numerous sites. We continue to lobby to reopen Station Terrace to cars accessing from Newport Road and Dumfries Place to access the Capitol and St. David’s car parks which will help businesses, their customers and employees.
Castle Street
As was to be expected, there have been teething problems to businesses and a few have experienced challenges as a result of the closure of Castle Street – many of the issues reported have been resolved through communications from Cardiff Council. We would like to hear your views on the road closure as well so please let us know via an Ambassador or info@forcardiff.com
Cleanliness
One of the aims of the reopening is to ensure the public and workers are reassured that the city centre is clean. As well as the Council’s team, FOR Cardiff’s additional cleansing team have been working hard to present the city centre as a clean, litter free area – walking round and a lack of noise saying to the contrary shows that this is the case.
Supporting hospitality
With the announcement today that the hospitality industry is set to be able to partially reopen (i.e outdoors) from 13th July subject to regulations, it will be interesting to see how many businesses will see this as being economically viable. To help the sector we are working with Yoello to allow food and drink to be ordered and paid for using your phone and thus reducing social distancing challenges. With discounts for BID levy paying businesses and with a good take up so far, it might be a suitable option for businesses. We also have negotiated a discount with Vordor to undertake a deep COVID compliant cleanse of your properties. Let us know if you want to know more.
It is clear that some of our businesses are more reliant on people returning to work. Although numbers are increasing we do urge employees to venture out and buy your lunch at some of these places including ones you may not have visited before, or do some shopping before or after work. We all need each other right now and I guarantee you will love exploring what the city’s businesses have to offer! Getting out will improve your mental well being as well.
The FOR Cardiff team has learned so much in the last few months regarding the challenges, requirements, and the ideas of businesses by seeking their views. This conversation is crucial if we are to deliver a strong recovery, and get Cardiff back to its entrepreneurial best. So many businesses have been innovative and So please get in touch at info@forcardiff.com if we can help your business.