Retail restrictions prompted by the pandemic and the rise of e-commerce have led to a decline in footfall at shopping centres in Moscow. During the period from January to March 2021 traffic fell by almost a quarter compared to the same period of last year, Roman Skorokhodov, president of Watcom consulting group, told news outlet RIA Real Estate.

“Compared to the first quarter of 2019, footfall in 2021 fell by 18.4 percent,” the analyst added, referring to pre-pandemic baseline figures. In St. Petersburg, the decline in footfall was not as pronounced as in Moscow, he added.

However, there has been some recent momentum in the opposite direction. During the first week of March there was an increase of 12 percent in Moscow, compared to the previous week. This can probably be attributed to the Women’s Day celebrations in Russia on 8 March, when women go shopping for themselves and men search for presents for them as well. When compared to the same festive period last year, however, there is still a negative trend of -18.8 percent, Skorokhodov added.