Visits to shopping centres down by a quarter compared with Feb 2020
William Wagstaff • 14 December 2020
Travelling for retail or recreation at 74% of its Feb 2020 baseline.
We find Google's Community Mobility reports fascinating. They use (opted in) location data from mobile phones to plot where people have gone. The reports look at visits to retail, transport hubs, supermarkets and places of work and compares these with a median value from Jan 3 to Feb 6 2020 (the Feb baseline) to calculate the percentage drop in visits.
The graphic shows the drop in visits to retail and recreation (shopping centres, cafes, museums and the like) from the baseline to 7th December 2020.
The darker the shading the nearer the number of visits is to the Feb baseline. The lighter the shading the bigger the drop off.
Three of the biggests drop offs are in Scotland. Stirling and Glasgow areas have seen 50% drop off in what should be a very busy time. London is down 38% from the baseline. Greater Manchester 28%. Kent (also in tier 3) is only down 26%.
If you want normality go to the Isle of Wight. It's currently running at 90% of its Feb baseline.
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