The Northern Irish premier outlet shopping destination has reported strong trading figures for 2020, crediting the Covid-19 pandemic for a renaissance in outdoor shopping.
The Boulevard, Banbridge owned by Lotus Property, has bucked the Covid downturn trend, with a 19 per cent increase in both overall turnover and footfall since reopening in June 2020, with sales growth of 39 per cent in the sports and outdoor categories and 43 per cent in homeware.
The landlords have cited the scheme’s significant open air footprint and investment in social distancing measures with a 90 per cent customer satisfaction score of the overall shopping experience and continued success despite facing the retail industry’s toughest year.
Alastair Coulson, Managing Director at Lotus Property, said: “Despite all its challenges, we are closing 2020 with a phenomenal success story. To have increased turnover and footfall by such a significant amount and welcomed new big brand tenants to the scheme, when high streets across the UK and Ireland have been struggling is testament to the strong retail offering we have, a stepchange in attitudes to out of town shopping and the commitment of our centre management team and tenants to ensuring we provided a safe and comfortable shopping environment for customers.”
