Member Article

Our first Easter festival was 'eggcellent' fun, and consumer confidence is on the up

We ‘cracked’ it! We had a bumper Easter holiday period at Royal Quays with family entertainment, blue skies and shoppers galore. It was a true family day in the best of traditions, with children entertained by face painters, punch & Judy and real life Daleks!

For adults, live entertainment was provided by talented South Shields-based, Tony Bengtsson, a unique Americana artist who wowed the crowd.

It is great to be able to provide customers with a fun filled day out for the entire family. It was also nice to reintroduce old fashioned favourites ‘Punch and Judy’ which the youngsters really enjoyed and, no doubt, brought back happy memories to the older generation. Simple, good honest entertainment that endures the years.

We really look forward to opportunities where we can give back to shoppers and tenants and the Festival really brought everybody together. Primarily, such days are for our customers but within Royal Quays it is also a chance for the stores to socialise together and have some fun – and that was achieved with some style.

While we were celebrating a great long weekend we were further uplifted by the latest research on consumer confidence.

According to research from accountants, Deloitte, North East consumer confidence in their level of disposable income increased by 14% in the first quarter of 2014, in contrast to the previous quarter.

The research also suggests that households became more confident about their discretionary spending.

This is great news for North East retail, as ours is a sector which needs to see momentum gathering pace.

Interestingly, the findings are being echoed at Royal Quays. We enjoyed a very strong first quarter – In comparison to January 2013, footfall was up by 11% while spending up 16% across the board. Pleasingly, spending and footfall has continued to remain strong. In comparison to Easter 2013, footfall was up by 4% and spending up by 7% and the signs look good as we head into the summer months.

There are a number of factors that could be contributing to this, the first is obvious – we are out of a long recession and, inevitably, people begin to loosen their purse strings. We are also an outlet centre, offering high quality products but at a discounted price.

We pride ourselves on our varied offering unique stores such as enjoymuzic and the Pet Outlet sit strongly alongside national brands such as Clarks, Nike Factory Store and M&S Outlet.

We have also had a less gruelling winter than in previous years, and that could well be a contributing factor to people stepping out of doors on amore regular basis. Faced with hail or snowy weather, people are more likely to shop online or stay indoors.

Whatever the reasons, the signs remain positive and this is music to the ears of retailers and the North East Economy!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Royal Quays Outlet Centre .