Andrea Felsted, Columnist

The Brexit Wrecking Ball Hits the High Street

The delay in the divorce date should have given shops a break. Then the Tory leadership challenge happened.

June 4, 2019 at 11:54 AM UTC

Andrea Felsted is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering consumer goods and the retail industry. Previously, she was a reporter for the Financial Times.

So much for the retailers’ respite.
Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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The drop in British retail sales by the most on record underlines a serious difficulty for U.K. shops. Although fundamentals for consumers are generally good, Brexit uncertainty is keeping them from spending.

Figures released by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG show total sales fell 2.7% in May from a year earlier. Excluding Easter distortions, the BRC said the decline was the worst since records began in 1995.