17/08/2009 Wet weather helps London furniture sales

Wet weather during July helped drive sales of furniture and homewares in London, according to the BRC-KPMG London Retail Sales Monitor.

Despite the weather reportedly having a negative effect on most retail sectors, overall retail sales in central London during July were 2.2% higher, on a like-for-like basis, than a year ago.

Helen Dickinson, head of retail, KPMG, (pictured) said: “After a strong performance in the capital in June, July saw retail sales growth of 2.2% like-for-like compared with July 2008. This is much more in line with the national retail trend, with like-for-like sales growth of 1.8% seen across the UK last month.

“With clearance sales, we perhaps would have expected stronger growth in London given the recent trend in the capital but with many of these starting earlier in June this year, and the weather having taken a turn for the worse, demand may have been satisfied last month rather than in July.”

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