British retail sales surged 6 per cent higher than a year ago and it will take more than a sluggish economy to drive shoppers off the high street, according to data released today.
Commenting on today’s retail sales figures Mr Andrew Newman, retailing lecturer at the University of Manchester's Institute of Science and Technology, said spending has become a leisure activity in Britain, with new shopping centres sitting alongside cinemas and bowling alleys.
When foot-and-mouth disease ravaged livestock earlier this year, shutting down swathes of countryside, city-bound Britons took to the shops in their droves. The British Retail Consortium said retailers in major cities saw increased sales at the peak of the crisis.
"We might be skirting recession but we're still going to go out on a Saturday just like we'd go on a trip to the seaside," Mr Newman said.
"Confidence has stayed high and people are going to keep borrowing more. Debt levels are high but because interest rates are low the ability to service them is less of a problem," Mr Martin Ellis, economist at Halifax, said.
The Bank of England last week said total British consumer debt was now around £690 billion sterling, an all-time high. The ratio of gross household debt to quarterly disposable income is also at an all-time high.
Travel agent Thomas Cook said this week consumers spending on travel had increased since rumours of a recession began. Shop managers seem to agree - they are upbeat and predict no signs of belt-tightening ahead.
But the enthusiasm of British consumers could dive if media scaremongering about a global economic slowdown kicks in, warns Newman.
"The media plays a big role and it's a copy-cat process with people looking around and seeing others spend," he said.
"I don't want to start prophesying but I expect people may stop spending abruptly. You get this strange phenomenon when the papers start telling us there's going to be a recession," he added.
PA