Shoppers "love" late-night Thursdays

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Late night Thursday shopping is proving a hit in St Helier with footfall up 5% on last year.

Since 4 September shops in the town centre have been staying open until 7pm on Thursdays and until 9 pm this month. Figures for the number of people entering shops shows that footfall is up, with 5% more shoppers visiting St Helier stores last week compared to the same period in 2013.

Daphne East, Town Centre Manager, said: “Year on year figures show there has been an increase in shoppers for early December. It has taken a long time to build up the numbers but people are starting to shop more on Thursday evenings.

“The turning point happened in October, about five to six weeks after the shops started opening later, when people realised this was happening. There was a dip during half term week, but since the Christmas lights were switched on at the end of November the number of late Thursday shoppers has been growing.”

Although late evening shopping has been trialled before in Jersey in the run up to Christmas, this is the first year shops have been open continuously all through the autumn. The ‘Love Thursday, Love shopping’ scheme is due to continue next year.

Daphne said: “Shops have committed to this scheme for 18 months. It has taken a while for the shops to get used to it, and to adjust their staff working hours for Thursdays, just as it has taken a while for customers to get used to it too.

“It’s harder for smaller retailers to change their shift patterns but many of the shops are now realising that there is more trade later in the evening than at 9am on a Thursday so they are happier to modify their opening hours. If the pattern continues then shops may eventually be in a position to look at taking on extra staff.”

The increased footfall could also translate to a rise in takings for the shops too. Daphne said: “The key three figures reveal it is a level playing field, and sales should be up.”

Late night shopping is not new to Jersey. In the 1980s, stores in King Street and Queen Street would be open until 10pm from Mondays-Fridays from June to August and until 8pm on Thursdays for the rest of the year. As the tourist industry declined stores cut back their hours, and by 2005 many stores closed on Thursdays outside the peak summer months.

According to the Weekly Footfall Report, overall footfall in St Helier for the first week in December was down 4.2% on 2013. Saturday still remains the busiest shopping day of the week, with over 53,000 visitors recorded compared to just over 44,000 on the Thursday.