Fears are growing that Britain’s retail industry is on course for a miserable Christmas that could trigger a slew of high street collapses.
Twelve days before Christmas Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct, the country’s biggest sportswear retailer, said that last month had been “unbelievably bad”.
He said no retailer could have budgeted for just how poor trading was, adding that it would be hard for most to catch up lost trade. “Retailers cannot take that kind of November,” Ashley said. “It will literally smash them to pieces.”
