High street joy as warm front lifts clothing sales
APRIL’S unseasonally warm weather helped send the cash registers ringing last month as clothes stores saw their best performance for four years thanks to a rush to stock up on summer outfits.
Shoppers hit the high street to take advantage of falling prices, with official figures showing UK retail sales volumes jumped by a bigger-than-expected 1.2 per cent month-on-month in April, recovering from a surprise 0.7 per cent fall in March. The Office for National Statistics said clothing sales surged by 5.2 per cent by volume between March and April – the biggest rise since April 2011. The upbeat figures come just days after industry data pointed to a lacklustre April for Scottish retailers with total sales down by 1 per cent, year-on-year.