Homeware sales remained in negative territory on the high street, delivering the category’s seventeenth negative result this year.

According to the latest BDO High Street Sales Tracker, total like-for-like (LFL) sales were down 1.46% for the week ending 28 May 2023.

Homeware total LFLs fell by 10.00% from a negative base of 2.29% for the same week last year, signifying the category’s seventeenth negative result so far in 2023.

Store homeware sales fell by 6.64% from a positive base of +11.49% for the same week last year, marking the category’s fourth negative result so far in 2023.

Total in-store LFL sales were up by +1.73% from a base of +19.84% for the same week last year. Total non-store LFL sales were negative for the second consecutive week, down -6.02% from a base of +2.38% for the same week last year.

Commenting on the results, BDO said: “Both this week and the same week last year included the Spring bank holiday weekend. This week’s result for total LFLs is the fifth negative outcome within the last ten weeks.

“The UK enjoyed warm weather this week with scattered showers in parts of the country. The week started with partly sunny weather and scattered showers and culminated in a warm weekend which recorded the hottest day of the year so far. The same week last year started rainy before sunshine settled in over the weekend along with temperatures north of 20°C.”

Overall footfall rose by +5.5% compared to the equivalent week in 2022. High Street footfall recorded the strongest growth since the second week of April, leaping up by +8.6%. Shopping Centre footfall grew by +4.0%, while Retail Parks saw grew by +0.5%