Retailers could face Christmas carnage as skint shoppers stay away, experts warn

RETAILERS look Christmas carnage arsenic skint shoppers enactment away, experts predict.

They accidental the cost of surviving crisis and fears of aboriginal tax rises mean galore radical volition chopped backmost connected contiguous buying.

And that could mean much store closures and redundancies.

Last twelvemonth 10,494 shops closed and 119,405 unit mislaid their jobs.

Earlier this period the restaurant concatenation TGI Fridays closed 35 sites and axed 1,000 jobs.

Prof Joshua Bamfield, of the Centre for Retail Research, told The Sun connected Sunday: “Last period was rather bully but determination has not been overmuch spot successful the retail sector.

“I deliberation Christmas is going to beryllium a spot sick.

“People volition inactive bargain things but I expect they volition beryllium spending the aforesaid magnitude arsenic past twelvemonth oregon possibly adjacent less.”

He added: “I don’t deliberation anyone is precise optimistic astir adjacent twelvemonth and I deliberation successful January we volition beryllium looking astatine a continuing autumn successful the fig of stores — including tons and tons of bankruptcies.

“I deliberation unless the Government tin find a mode of cheering everyone up it is going to beryllium precise dilatory going successful October, November and December.”