Non-essential spending up 7% year on year, driven by a high-street comeback.
Spend on holidays now 62% behind 2019 levels as travel corridors continue to close
Essential spend up 7% year on year but commuting spend falls back from August
Covid-19 restrictions in
In September, non-essential spending grew 7% year on year, the largest increase in any single month since
Whilst further Covid-19 preventative measures are now in place for restaurants in
Other high-street pillars also saw a resurgence in spending in September. Department stores, hit badly by pandemic lockdown measures, saw spending surge 33% year on year, compared to a 11% increase in August. Elsewhere, home stores continued to attract significantly more money from shoppers this year, 43% above 2019 levels, as well as electrical stores (42%).
Spending at clothing retailers grew 5% year on year in September, up from 4% growth in August.
With a limited number of travel corridors in place between
Essential spend
Food and drink spend continues to trend at levels significantly above last year (25%), making up the majority of essential spend growth.
As the government moved back to encouraging people to work from home, commuter spending was down in September by 51% year on year (from 44% in August). Fuel spend is now only 10% less than a year ago, having been as much as 60% down, in
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