Around 60,000 shoppers shopped at the Bridges in first weekend after lockdown reopening

Bosses at the Bridges have confirmed that around 60,000 people visited the city’s shopping centre between Friday, June 19 and Sunday, June 21, and say they are pleased residents have come to the city centre to support local businesses.

Friday saw more than 25,000 people hit the shops with almost 24,000 visiting on Saturday after lockdown measures were eased on Monday, June 15, to allow non-essential stores to reopen to customers.

Both Friday and Saturday saw more visitors than on opening Monday where around 22,000 people paid a visit to the Bridges.

While Sunday remained quieter with around 10,000 visitors with stores following Sunday trading hours.

Sharon Appleby, Head of Business Operations, Sunderland BID, said: “We are very pleased that, following the re-opening of non essential retail, shoppers have continued to come to the city centre and support local businesses.

“After a good start numbers have steadily grown and, as expected, we have had seen an increase over the weekend.

“We carried out some research to see how customers were feeling about returning and the number of shoppers we have seen are in line with these findings.

“Feeling safe was understandable a top priority and the measures that have been put in place across the city have given customers the confidence to return.

“We are very grateful to both the public and the retailers for their co-operation.”

The non-essential stores had been closed since March 24 as part of the Government’s coronavirus lockdown, which aimed to curb the spread of the virus.

The Echo is currently running its #SupportLocal campaign urging shoppers to back local traders where they can as lockdown measures ease and stores have reopened.

Duncan Allen, Building and Services Director at the Bridges, added: “The Bridges has seen a steady flow of customers as more and more retailers have re-opened and we are very pleased that they have adhered to both the centre’s own guidelines and those of the individual retailers.

“As we expected we were busy over the weekend but again we would still like people to consider what time they come in the centre and also perhaps think about shopping on Sundays when it is a little quieter.

“The whole situation is being very well managed and we are very happy with the response from both shoppers and retailers.”

The Bridges and stores across the city now have measures in place to keep people safe and enable social distancing as retailers reopen.

The measures include a one-way system throughout the Bridges, with entrances marked up with entrance and exit signs, while notices have been put up to remind people to keep their two-metre distance from others and stick to the right route.

A dedicated cleaning team will be keeping touchpoints, such as doors, railings and ATM and lift buttons, sanitised.

The toilets and baby changing facilities are open again and are manned to ensure a one-in-one-out flow.

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