This Glasgow shopping centre is about to be hit with 400,000 festive shoppers

The St Enoch is one of the biggest shopping and leisure centres in Scotland. Picture: Contributed

Footfall tomorrow, on so-called Super Saturday for UK retailers, is expected to peak at 100,000 shoppers

Anne Ledgerwood, the centre’s general manager, said: “December has been a good month for St Enoch Centre with our strong retail offering as well as our in-centre events. The weekend before Christmas is traditionally one of the busiest of the year and we expect over 400,000 shoppers in the run-up to Christmas.”

The upbeat forecast comes after UK-wide retail sales slowed to their weakest annual growth rate since April 2018 in November as consumers exercised caution amid political uncertainty.

Sales volumes fell by 0.4 per cent in the three months to November when compared with the previous three months - the first decline since April 2018, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The quantity bought in November fell by 0.6 per cent compared with the previous month, with only household goods stores reporting growth.

Many retailers are banking on a last-minute rush including the crucial Super Saturday trading.

Paul Martin, UK head of retail at KPMG, said: “There is no denying that retailers have had a troublesome few months recently, making the final push towards Christmas all the more vital in determining overall success or failure. Indeed, some retailers make the vast majority of their annual profits during these few weeks alone.

“Thankfully the bout of political uncertainty is now seemingly behind us post-election, albeit Brexit is yet to be executed. This may well result in a resurgence of consumer confidence for the time being, which in turn will encourage shoppers to finally make the purchases that they may have been putting off in recent months. In any case, Christmas is usually a time when festivities trump traditional reason, and retailers will be trying to make up for lost ground.”