Strong sales of party food and clothes ahead of the Diamond Jubilee helped struggling stores keep their heads above water in June.
Like-for-like sales rose 1.4% over the month, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), with the Jubilee sparking the strongest week for grocery sales since Easter.
But the rest of the month proved challenging as the wettest June on record kept shoppers at home and dented demand for barbecues and garden items, while even home improvement failed to gain a boost.
That meant, despite inflation, like-for-like sales over the first half of 2012 grew just 0.8% on the previous year, highlighting the strain on the sector amid the squeeze on incomes.
BRC director-general Stephen Robertson said: "It was the bunting boost. June was saved by the feel-good lift of the Jubilee, showing how crucial these temporary factors are in our difficult trading conditions.
"Sadly, the soggy celebrations over the Jubilee weekend itself, which heralded the start of the wettest June on record, were followed by far weaker business for the rest of the month."
The Jubilee boosted sales of alcohol, crisps, cakes and dips, while the warm weather in the run-up to the event stimulated sales of summer fashion, such as shorts and dresses.
However, the boost proved short-lived and the fortunes of the high street reversed amid grim weather in the wake of Jubilee.
Women's clothing saw sales decline as shoppers cut back on non-essential spending although some were prompted to buy knitwear.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article