Retail sales in Manchester city centre rose by over four per cent last month, according to latest figures.

According to Manchester City Centre Business District, September saw the return of the city’s 100,000 strong student population, who shopped city centre stores for clothes, stationery, books, music and homeware to equip themselves for the start of the academic year.

The figures also reveal footfall across Manchester’s retail core rose by 3.7% compared to the same time last year, outperforming the UK average which witnessed a dip of 0.6% during September.

Jane Sharrocks, Heart of Manchester BID Chair and General Manager at Selfridges Exchange Square, said: “With the largest student population outside of London, students make a significant contribution to the Manchester retail economy each year. This year we were keen to showcase the city’s retail offering to new incoming students and reconnect with returning students through the MCR Student Takeover event – a collaboration by the BID and Manchester Arndale which has successfully run its ‘Big Student Night In’ for the last decade.

Hundreds of stores across the city centre took part in the event which resulted in significant increases in both spend and footfall and clearly demonstrated the benefits of taking a collaborative city-wide approach when targeting consumers.”

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