BUSINESS leaders are celebrating after shopper numbers jumped 40 per cent on a crucial street thanks to a new Primark.

The new store boosted Bournemouth’s Commercial Road after months of falling numbers.

The store opened on November 30 and during the following week there were 38.98 per cent more shoppers than in the same period last year.

Town centre manager Roger Parker said: “That was in a week when two days trade were lost to heavy snowfall.

“These are really strong figures, there’s really great momentum.”

The 49,000sq ft store opened on the site of a former BHS and it was the budget retailer’s 212th branch.

Shopper numbers throughout the town were up 15.4 per cent during the same week and it boosted business for other retailers.

Mr Parker said: “We are hearing from a lot of traders, big and small, just how good business is.

“A lot are reporting strong figures well into double digits. Not just 10 per cent – significantly more.”

The town centre footfall figures showed a slight fall for Old Christchurch Road, which is on the opposite side of the town.

But Nigel Hedges, president of Bournemouth Chamber of Trade, said retailers had seen people sporting Primark bags on both sides of town and said he had never seen so many shoppers in the first week of December.

Chief executive Paul Marchant said when the store opened: “This investment underlines Primark’s confidence in the area and its economy.”

Commercial Road has seen major investment over the past few years including new stores like Zara and the flats and business units of the Nova Building.

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