N Ireland's Rushmere breaks visitors record on reopening

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
May 18, 2021

Great to be back. Shoppers in Northern Ireland showed just how much the end of the lockdown meant over the May Bank Holiday weekend with over 136,000 visiting the Rushmere Shopping Centre in Craigavon.

It was the busiest May bank holiday weekend on record, according to owner Moyallen Holdings, coinciding with the lifting of restrictions on non-essential retailers on 30 April.
 
Rushmere said daily visitor numbers from Friday through to close of business on Monday were similar to those seen in the last few days before Christmas in a normal trading year.

Rushmere Shopping Centre manager Martin Walsh said: “Though we had been anticipating a busy return last weekend, we were delighted to record an unprecedented number of shoppers visiting the centre and retail park right through the four-day shopping period. It was very encouraging to see.”
 
Out-of-town retail centres and parks have performed relatively strongly compared with high streets in the last year and are recovering faster than any other type of shopping destination, according to a recent Springboard analysis.