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Retail Christmas Trading Full Steam Ahead

Despite the damage the snow has caused in January to most retailers, the positive Christmas trading figures cannot be overshadowed.

A big winner was John Lewis with LFL sales up 12.7 % over the Christmas period, taking into account the full launch of all their fashion brands online and the opening of their Cardiff store in September last year John Lewis is looking forward to a very successful 2010.

Other winners included Hamleys who posted an 11.6% LFL rise, Fortnum & Mason who were quoted as being up 10% on the previous year and a very impressive LFL 17.4% sales increase was recorded for The Dune Group who have proved it's acquisition of the former Shoe Studio group fascias to be a smart move.

Those who lost out over the period are few but have to include Debenhams whose trading figures were virtually flat with a 0.1% increase posted and The Game Group who were down 18% across the UK and Ireland not helped by the lack of new hardware product launches last year.

ELG