High streets and supermarkets witnessed another sales last month as shops were knocked by customers’ continued cost-of-living concerns and closures for the Queen’s state funeral. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that UK retail sales volumes declined by 1.4% last month.
It came after a 1.7% decline in August. However, it was notably worse than expected, after a consensus of economists predicted retail sales would only fall 0.5% for the month.
The ONS said food stores saw sales particularly drop, sliding by 1.8% in September, continuing a downward trend since summer last year when pandemic restrictions were eased on hospitality.
