Foot traffic at Russia's leading malls jumps as rebound gets underway

The volume of foot traffic in Moscow’s leading malls increased sharply on June 1 as the lockdown restrictions in Russia’s capital start to be eased and residents go to the mall. Foot traffic volumes had collapsed by 65%-75% year on year during the lockdown, but rebounded on June 1 and were down only 43.1%, according to Watcom, which uses cameras to measure foot traffic at leading Russian malls in real time. As bne IntelliNews reported, the recovery in shopping traffic is part of a broader visible Russian rebound that has got underway in the last few days and seen the ruble break below RUB70 to the dollar for the first time in months, among other things.