Friday is predicted by experts to be the busiest retail day of the year so far by volume of shop visits. But on Buchanan Street, Glasgow’s main pedestrianised thoroughfare, the December downpour may be playing its part in confounding this forecast, as the late morning footfall is steady rather than bustling.

The street ranges from John Lewis and the Buchanan Galleries at the rise of the hill to the House of Fraser department store and the St Enoch Centre shopping mall at the bottom.

Like many other parts of the UK, Glasgow has been affected by the high street downturn. A net 6% of Glasgow’s shops closed their doors last year – 94 closures compared with 41 openings – according to data compiled by the Local Data Company (LDC) for PricewaterhouseCoopers, which showed that Scotland was the hardest hit part of the UK.

House of Fraser department store on Buchanan Street in Glasgow. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

“I do think people go online for Christmas shopping now,” Laura Harvey says, as the sequins on her knitted beanie catch the sparkles from a cascade of festive lights covering the Victorian frontage of House of Fraser. “It takes the stress out of it. I’ve done all mine online but I’ve come in for a few last-minute things.”

Harvey, the manager of a respite centre for children with disabilities, is on a day off before a weekend of Christmas celebrations at the unit and looking for a gift for her mother. “It’s more personal to come in and have a look around for your close family members. It’s more Christmassy to get things gift-wrapped, and seeing all the lights around Frasers gets you in the Christmas mood, too.”

Margaret McLay is sheltering from the rain under a canopy directly opposite the main Frasers entrance. In October, following months of uncertainty, Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct, the new owner of House of Fraser, announced plans to buy the historic building in a £95m deal, with the promise of turning the department store into “the Harrods of the North”.

I don’t know how big department stores like Frasers keep going Glasgow shopper Margaret McLay

“I don’t know how big department stores like Frasers keep going,” McLay says. “I’m surprised it’s still there!” She is familiar with news reports about how conventional high streets are suffering in the age of online retail.

She suggests that younger people have “lost the habit” of going to high streets. “My daughter did all her Christmas shopping online. She works, so she’s only got the weekends and she doesn’t want to spend them coming in here with the kids.”

Other shoppers call for consumers to do more to support smaller retailers. “I can understand why people do it online but if we don’t go out to shops then we’ll lose them all,” Bernadette Thomson says.

Shoppers on Buchanan Street in Glasgow. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Taking a break from looking after her five grandchildren, she admits that she is not convinced by the sale signs already dominating the window displays with promises of “up to 50% off”. She says: “The sales these days aren’t the same. People would queue outside shops for hours on Boxing Day and it was so exciting. Now there’s always a sale somewhere. My advice is don’t buy anything full price.”

Elias Rooney, a cellist with Scottish Ballet, is also looking for a last-minute present for his mother. “I hadn’t expected to see all these sale signs so close to Christmas. I suppose they are trying to bring people in.”