Topps' decline eases
Topps Tiles has seen its decline in sales ease in the past few weeks amid signs of trading up.
After suffering a 9.5% fall in sales in July, August and September, like for like sales fell by 6.9% in the seven weeks to 19 November.
'It's really been about consumer confidence, with footfall being the issue. There has been relentlessly negative news and our customers may not understand the eurozone crisis, but they understand bad news when they hear it,' says Matthew Williams, Topps chief executive.
However, Williams says that when shoppers do decide to buy, they are trading up with average selling prices rising by 10% to £19 per sqm. 'People are very keen to decorate and take risks than ever before. We thought people would trade down and the complete reverse happened.'