Clothing store sales increased month-on-month by 11.9% in July, as more retail shops were allowed to resume trading.
Despite this, clothing sales were still 25.7% below levels in February prior to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK, the Office for National Statistics reported.
A better recovery was seen in household goods stores and other non-food stores in July, which were 6% and 2.2% respectively above February levels, although department stores sales were 5.1% down.
Conversely, online retail sales fell by 7% and food store sales by 3.1% in July compared with June, as restaurants and bars reopened.
However, online retail sales were still 50.4% higher than pre-pandemic levels in February.
Overall total non-food store sales were 6.6% lower than before the UK’s lockdown in March.
Retail sales volumes rose by 3.6% on June, and were 3% above February’s levels.
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