"The recent car-free day on Oxford Street appears to have had mixed results, despite a substantial amount of publicity thrown at the event. Visitor numbers passing through the three tube stations along the pedestrianised zone (Marble Arch, Bond Street, and Oxford Circus) all saw increased passenger traffic, up by about a quarter compared to the previous week, which is a very good increase."
"Additionally, a survey conducted by the New West End Company (NWEC) revealed that two-thirds of stores on Oxford Street and in the surrounding area that responded to their survey reported similar or higher sales during the event compared to a typical Sunday. However, that survey is based on responses from just 21 stores, of which just six were within the pedestrian zone."
"In mitigation, the survey results are from NWEC members, who tend to be from larger stores. That could offer a hint, however small, that larger retailers performed better on the day, as they are often destination stores that people are willing to seek out and travel to visit. Against that is the fact that some of the responses only indicated that sales were similar to those of a typical Sunday, which should be a bit of a red flag."
Pedestrianisation and heavy publicity coincided with a roughly 25% increase in passenger traffic at Marble Arch, Bond Street and Oxford Circus compared with the previous week. A NWEC survey of responding stores found two-thirds reported similar or higher sales than a typical Sunday, but that survey covered only 21 shops, six inside the pedestrian zone. The pedestrian zone contains about 100 retail stores and several hundred more surround it, so the sample is small. NWEC respondents tend to be larger destination retailers, which may have performed better. Mixed results and confounding extra entertainments mean further, larger research is needed to determine lasting retail effects.
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