THE tills were jingling along with the bells this Christmas gone, according to Liverpool ONE which has just published its "record-breaking" figures for the period.
Perhaps boosted by increasing consumer confidence, festive sales were up 15 percent on the same period in 2013.
Across the whole of 2014 Liverpool ONE claims to have "significantly outperformed retail performance elsewhere in the UK" reaching a new high of 27.5 million visits and recording a seven percent upswing in sales.
"Compared to a national backdrop of an anticipated 1.6 percent sales growth and flat UK footfall, Liverpool ONE’s stellar performance broke all its previous sales records," it says here.
Bars and restaurants saw an 8 percent upturn in sales, according to Liverpool ONE's management, with new brands including Côte Bistro, Tortilla, Bill’s, TGI Friday’s and Manzo joining the line-up in 2014.
Liverpool ONE’s Estate Director, Chris Bliss, said: “2014 was a record-breaking year for Liverpool ONE with outstanding results from beginning to end. We experienced exceptional footfall at the start of the year with almost 10 percent growth in January and finished with our busiest Christmas period on record. Christmas week was followed quickly by a record-breaking Boxing Day. To top it off we significantly outperformed national retail spending and saw healthy footfall growth despite a backdrop of flat UK performance.”
Fashion associated sales accounting for 53 perccent of customer-spend.
And according to figures for 2015, it seems there is no let up in the desire to spend, spend, spend.
Mr Bliss added: “We’re confident our visitor total for the year will top the 28 million mark and footfall during the first week of January is already up 13 percent."
