Liverpool ONE begins 2024 with strongest start in over five years
Liverpool ONE has reported a 10% increase in visitor numbers during the first week of January compared to 2023, marking the destination’s strongest start to the year since 2018.
Scheme owner Grosvenor has reported that it already expects 2024 to top last year’s results.
This follows Liverpool ONE’s busiest ever Christmas in 2023, with sales and visitor numbers hitting all-time highs. During the festive period, the destination welcomed over 3.9m visitors, representing an increase of 1.9% compared to 2022.
These figures are in contrast to the national picture, which shows a drop in footfall of 3.5% across the UK’s retail hotspots according to ShopperTrak footfall benchmark data. This places Liverpool ONE ahead of the rest of the UK by five points.
Year-on-year sales during the festive period also increased by 5.3%, bolstered by entertainment, beauty, and menswear the most popular types of purchase.
Over the course of 2023, a total of 25 brands arrived at Liverpool ONE taking a total of 275,000 sq ft of space. Highlights included the openings of Gravity MAX and M&S, both of which taking space in the former Debenhams department store. Other milestone openings included the launch of Goldsmiths’ largest showroom to date and the opening of a number of regional flagships for the likes of Swarovski, BOSS, Hollister, Gilly Hicks, Sweaty Betty, Space NK, Swatch, TAG Heuer, Joe & the Juice, and local brands Red Run and Bean Coffee Roasters. A further 27 brands renewed or regeared their leases for a total of 105,000 sq ft of space.
Chris Jukes, Grosvenor’s director of Liverpool ONE, said: “2023 was a milestone year for Liverpool ONE. Not only did we celebrate our 15 year anniversary and play a role in helping the city to host Eurovision 2023, but from a leasing perspective, we continued to attract retail firsts, international flagship openings, creative pop-ups, and independent and local brands, as evidenced in our results. Liverpool ONE has never been a destination which steps and repeats but we always strive to be big and bold in all that we do. 2024 will be no different as we will continue to innovate, evolve and contribute to the city centre and wider Liverpool City Region.”