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Brighter outlook for UK non-food
ROAD TRANSPORT operators serving the non-food retail sector should see volumes rise, with the Synovate Retail Think Tank predicting a "solid, even bright" Christmas for retailers. Its latest report suggests UK retail health in 03 showed stability, and it anticipates modest improvement in 04.
Year-on-year shopper footfall was up again in October — the third rise in the past four months.
Synovate's Dr Tim Denison says: "The general upwards trend in year-on-year footfall levels that we have seen recently strengthened in October. This is the first month of 2009 where improvements at a national level were sustained for every week of the month. Things are now moving in the right direction."
So far, most of the growth in footfall has been in the Midlands, with some improvement seen in London and the South-East.