Tuesday 11 August 2009

BBC NEWS | Business | Retail sales 'continue to rise' More Good News from Gordan Browns UK Economy

BBC NEWS | Business | Retail sales 'continue to rise'

Retail sales rose again in July, as the wet weather lifted demand for furniture and homeware goods, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said.

UK-wide like-for-like sales - which pulls out the impact of new store openings - increased by 1.8% last month compared with July 2008.

This was a bigger increase than the 1.4% rise reported for June.

However, the BRC cautioned that rising unemployment was preventing a wider return of consumer confidence.

'Home improvements'

Sales of furniture and homewares saw their biggest year-on-year growth in three years during July, although the BRC said this was against a very low base in July 2008, and lifted by extensive discounting.

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