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Sandra Halliday Published
October 20, 2025
There was bad — but not wholly unexpected — news for UK retail on Friday as the Office for National Statistics reported retail sales sharply down in September.
Volumes fell by 0.9% last month compared to August, which may not sound huge, but it was much worse than the 0.2% deficit that analysts had expected and the 0.4% rise that had been seen in the previous month.
And non-food stores sales volumes fell by 1.9%. Who was to blame? The clothing sector, of course. Retailers reported that the fall over the month was because of continuing cost-of-living pressures, alongside the unseasonably warm weather reducing sales of autumn clothing.
Overall, as mentioned, sales volumes were down 0.9% month on month, down 1% year on year and worryingly were down 2.5% compared with February 2025, the month before the pandemic began.
As for value, sales fell 0.2% month on month and were up 4.7% year on year, although this clearly shows that values aren't keeping up with inflation.
Looking at non-foods specifically, clothing stores sales volumes dropped by 1.6% month on month as early autumn drops stayed on the rails while much of the UK basked in an unexpected heatwave. It was a bitter pill for the sector to swallow given how tough summer sales had been due to chilly weather at the height of the season.
Department stores sales volumes fell by 1.6% as well and the sub-sector of ‘other non-food stores fell by 2%. This was mainly because previously-high-performing sectors such as watches and jewellery stores saw falls this time around.
Meanwhile, non-store retailing continued to fall following the record-breaking warm weather. Volumes fell by 2.2% as the weather and cost of living continued to weigh on the channel.
Despite this fall, non-store retailing sales volumes were 15.2% above their pre-pandemic level in February 2025.