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With Christmas just days away, many indies reported a busy weekend of trading.
After what has been described as a “tough” November and December for independents, sales were strong at the weekend, with customers picking up last-minute presents or new clothes for the Christmas period.
Ian Lockett, owner of Westdaw Menswear in Dorking, said: “We've had a cracking Christmas, our second best week ever, last week.”
The store also reported its best Sunday trading since it opened in 2016.
“[We had a] record Sunday yesterday and we expect to be equally busy today [Monday 23 December] and tomorrow.”
Darren Hoggett, owner of J&B Menswear in Norwich, said last week was its best week in six years, despite a tough final quarter.
“Today started off really well. But don't be under any illusion how tough it is, the week before we were really down,” he said.
“It's been very erratic, but it's been very encouraging this week.”
The store has seen an increase in sales of casual clothing, he said: “We're almost in recessionary times, so people tend to stick to the brands they love and they're not really interested in anything particularly new.”
Sean Garnham, owner of Hall Street Menswear in Long Melford in Suffolk, said the last week had been “alright”, but sales were down on the same period in 2023.
“Last year was a record year for us, I don’t think we’re going to match it, but we haven’t been doing too badly.”
However, recent weeks had “been tough”, he said: “It feels tougher than previous years, that’s for sure.”
Garnham said the store has seen strong sales of Australian footwear brand RM Williams and New Zealand clothing brand Rodd & Gunn.
“All of our brands have been performing fairly strongly, which I’m pleased about. We have done quite well with RM Williams, we’re growing our presence with them as a brand."
Edward Martin, managing director of Maidstone-based footwear independent Golden Boot, which on Friday was named the winner of Drapers' annual Christmas window competition, said consumers are "definitely more frugal than last year".
"I would personally park it at the door of the government, with the budget that has caused a lack of [consumer] confidence. A lot of our customers are business owners, and they're the ones that are most concerned [about the impact of the Budget],” he said.
Last week’s sales were similar to the same time last year, with customers saving up for a “very big spend on Saturday”.
"What we're finding now, is that people are traveling a really long way to get to us, because there's just no [independents] left in their locality, and when people come in, they spend generally a significant sum,” he added.
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