THE number of shoppers visiting one of the UK's largest retail centres plunged by 39% last year, new figures suggest.
A Glasgow City Council footfall counter set up outside the Buchanan Street entrance to Buchanan Galleries shows visitor numbers fell from 1,337,213 in 2010 to 957,902 last year.
However, the figures were immediately questioned by mall bosses. Kathy Murdoch, centre manager of Buchanan Galleries, said: "This figure has come from one camera close to one of Buchanan Galleries' several entrances and is in no way reflective of the number of shoppers we welcome annually into the centre. Footfall has remained strong."
Elsewhere, the number of shoppers on Argyle Street dropped by 18.9% last year, from 1,415,440 to 1,190,601, and Sauchiehall Street saw a 16.3% decline.
A footfall counter in the middle of Buchanan Street, the heart of the city's Style Mile, fared better, with just a 2.2% drop year on year.
However, there was a 19.25% drop in the number of consumers in the city centre last year – around 1.5 million fewer shoppers flashing the plastic.
Scott Taylor, chief executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: "These are incredibly challenging times for retailers."
Licensing chiefs say the drop in daytime visitors is impacting badly on Glasgow's nightlife, which they say has been hit hard by the late licensing of pubs and supermarket drink deals.
The number using two of the busiest Nite Zone taxi ranks – in Gordon Street and Sauchiehall Street – has also dropped over the past two years.
Donald MacLeod, chairman of the Local Licensing Forum and boss of CPL Entertainment Group, which runs many city clubs, said: "If people aren't coming in to the city centre during the day they aren't going to stay at night."
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