Holiday season boosts sales at shopping malls
SHOPPERS snapping up shoes and beauty products ahead of their holidays helped to boost retail sales in August, according to one of Britain’s biggest shopping centre owners.
Hammerson, which owns the Bullring in Birmingham as well as north London’s Brent Cross shopping centre, launched the Hammerson Retail Tracker — or Hart — earlier this year to monitor consumer spending habits.
Sales rose by 1.8 per cent in the four weeks to 15 August, according to its latest retail tracker released yesterday. This was a slowdown on the 2.9 per cent growth recorded in July, when demand for toys and games helped boost sales.
Hammerson said the performance was driven by a three per cent rise in health and beauty sales, with suntan lotion and SPF moisturisers proving especially popular. Footwear sales were also strong across its shopping centres – up 5.4 per cent.