High street sales slump

Updated 09.32 Tue May 13 2008

Retail sales have fallen for the second month, with the high street recording its worst figures in three years.

Clothing and footwear stores were worst hit as like-for-like sales fell 1.5 per cent in April, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.

"With higher fuel and utility bills eating away at people's spare cash, they are concentrating on essentials like food" - Stephen Robertson

This followed a drop in March of 1.6 per cent as the retail sector plumbed depths not seen since 2005.

The BRC said underlying trading remained difficult.

Director-general Stephen Robertson said: "With higher fuel and utility bills eating away at people's spare cash, they are concentrating on essentials like food.

"Retailers will look to the recent sunny weather to provide some boost but with the economic fundamentals remaining weak, there seems no reason for these tough trading conditions to improve soon."

Clothing and footwear stores saw their worst monthly performance for eight years as the poor weather hit sales despite heavy discounts and promotions.

Fashion chain Next gave a grim snapshot of the tough conditions faced by the sector last week with an 8.9 per cent fall in like-for-like sales at its high street outlets in the 13 weeks to April 26.

The few exceptions to the fall included grocers, who bounced back from a poor March.

The cold weather boosted sales of meat, vegetables, pies and pizzas as shoppers shunned salads, ice-cream and barbecue foods.

The BRC's less volatile three-month measure also showed a 0.6 per cent like-for-like sales decline in the three months to April compared to 2007.