'Good Easter' for UK shopkeepers
This year's Easter will be a good one for the nation's shopkeepers, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).Releasing its spending statistics for the week up to and including Easter Saturday, the BRC predicts that shoppers are set to spend an additional £670 million more than an average April week.This contributes to a four per cent increase on last year's total spending on Easter, with consumers this year splashing out to the tune of £7.8 billion.Easter egg sales are unsurprisingly strong and will make up around eight per cent of the UK's total spending on chocolate during the whole of 2007, the BRC believes.But other sectors are also set to benefit, with clothing, footwear, DIY and gardening retailers all doing especially well."Easter generally marks the end of the toughest quarter in the retail calendar," BRC director general Kevin Hawkis said."After using the first few months in the new year to service post-Christmas debt and consolidate savings, consumers tend to feel a bit more relaxed about splashing out over Easter," he explained.
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