The Telegraph

There was more pain for retailers on the last shopping day before Christmas as footfall declined by almost 10%. The number of people going into shops on Christmas Eve fell by 9.4% compared to the same day in 2018, according to figures by Ipsos Retail Performance. Figures from Springboard told a similar story, with the number of shoppers visiting high streets down 8.9% compared with Christmas Eve last year, while shopping centres suffered a 8.4% fall. Retail parks were down 4.7%. Books and stationery stores were the only sector to experience year-on-year growth, with footfall up by 6.9%, according to Ipsos.