Covid in Scotland: Lockdown below pre-pandemic levels
- Published
Shopper demand brought a boost after lockdown, but sales "remained in a funk" in April
The lifting of lockdown measures gave a boost to Scotland's high streets last month, new retail figures reveal.
But sales for April remain below their pre-pandemic levels, with shoppers spending a sixth less than they did before the lockdown.
Total sales last month were down by 15.6% compared to April 2019.
The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) said the reopening of shops was "encouraging", but high street prospects remained uncertain.
The latest SRC-KMPG sales monitor - using comparisons from two years ago due to the disruption caused by the pandemic in 2020 - showed food sales decreased 7.2% on April 2019.
Total non-food sales decreased by 22.7% in this same period.
SRC director David Lonsdale said that sales "remained in a funk" last month.
He added: "While the re-opening of non-essential stores and associated pent up demand in the final week of April provided a much-needed fillip, especially for fashion retailers, it couldn't make up for the rest of the month.
"Scotland lagged well behind the UK as a whole, unsurprising after shops here missed out on an extra fortnight of trading compared to counterparts in Wales and England.
"Whilst the reopening of stores rounded off an encouraging end to the month, the prospects for the immediate future remain uncertain."
'Unseasonably cold weather'
KPMG's UK head of retail, Paul Martin, said the reopening of non-essential stores was not enough to stop retail sales falling further in April.
But he added: "Last month was still far from business as usual. We can expect the Scottish high street's performance to improve in the months ahead.
"Lockdown ended late in April, during a spate of unseasonably cold weather, but consumers still took advantage of shops reopening and pushed clothing sales closer to pre-pandemic levels."
