Retail Sales Growth Rolls On

Despite record levels of personal debt it doesn’t look like consumers are going to stop shopping any time soon.  The latest official figures show that Q3 saw the volume of retail sales increase by 1.7% compared with the previous three months.

Data from the Office of National Statistics show that the highest sales growth over the period was reported by household goods stores at 4.8%.

The average weekly value of sales (not seasonally adjusted) in September was £4.9 billion, 4.6% higher than in September 2006.

Sales by predominantly non-food stores increased by 5.5 per cent over the year, compared with 3.7 per cent for food stores and 3.1 per cent for non-store retailing and repair.

[photo courtesy of mafleen on Flickr]