Retailers suffer as shoppers flock North
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IRISH shoppers are abandoning shops close to home and heading North, new figures have confirmed.
Footfall figures show a drop of 8pc in business in the Republic last month, while Northern business rose by 7pc.
The numbers visiting shopping centres and city centre stores in the South are down 4.2pc in the first three months of the year, new figures from research firm Experian show.
But the figures for Northern Ireland bucked the recessionary trend, showing a 7pc increase in March compared with the previous year, and making it the only part of the UK which has seen consistent growth year on year.
Experian Property Services Manager Mark Mullally said: "A footfall reduction of 8pc is very significant and confirms that trading conditions for retailers around the country are very difficult in the current economic downturn."
- Aideen Sheehan
