London's Retail Sales Rise In September

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Central London's like-for-like retail sales rose 7.5% in September from a year earlier, the British Retail Consortium said Monday. This compares with a 0.2% fall in sales seen a year ago. The BRC said drier and mild weather encouraged more people to come out and shop.

Commenting on the results, Stephen Robertson, Director General of the BRC said," This is dramatically different from the previous month's figure. It's the strongest London sales growth recorded since August 2008". However, Robertson pointed out that the data must be treated with caution, as September's figures are compared to weak performance last year, when the sales were hit by the global financial crisis.

During the month, food sales held up, though the growth was dampened by the lower food inflation, the BRC noted. At the same time, clothing and footwear as also furniture and homeware sales picked up due to a rise in consumer confidence and the housing market.

"These latest figures for London follow the trend for the rest of the UK but, like the national picture, weak comparatives and mixed performances make it too early to draw conclusions on the strength of consumer spending in the capital." Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail of KPMG said.

Stephenson noted that the results could offer a glimpse of the optimism in the run up to Christmas. "But consumer confidence is volatile and could easily slip back," he added.

(Market News Provided by RTTNews)