Sales end on high: 2005's festive sales beat 2003 and 2004, as shoppers make late surge.(Retail)

The UK music trade continued to flourish last week, after a late spending spree helped salvage Christmas for retailers across the country.

A week-on-week increase in business of almost 40% in pre-Christmas week saw a record 10.6m albums sold, lifting overall trade for December to the impressive levels of 2003 and 2004 (see analysis, p3).

And the business boom continued into the post-Christmas period, with sales across the range helping to maintain footfall levels in-store.

HMV Oxford Circus manager John Link says, "Sales were steady throughout December. But the rush really clicked in the final few days before Christmas. People often know what they want and wait for the last minute to see what deals they can pick up."

Paul Quirk, of Quirk's in Ormskirk, says, "Christmas really kicked in for us during the last week. Overall, the Christmas period wasn't quite as good as last year, but during the last week, maybe owing to the extra day, things picked up dramatically."

Richard White, the owner of Chalky's in Banbury, adds, "We were slightly down on last year--probably between 5% to 8%, but when you take all things into consideration--there were probably stronger albums last year--then there is no reason to panic at all."

There was certainly no shortage of price-cutting after the festive weekend, as new year sales began from Boxing Day onwards.