...And overall retail sales volumes defied expectations of a 0.1% fall to climb 0.3% between June and July 2012 according to the latest from the Office for National Statistics.
The government body also revealed that all retailing seasonally adjusted sales volumes were estimated to have increased by 2.8% compared with July 2011, with values estimated to be up 3.1%

Value of sales in the household goods sector increased by 1.5% between July 2011 and July 2012, with average prices estimated to have decreased by 0.2% in the year to July 2012. Also within this sector the estimated weekly sales were £0.6bn for July 2012, and 5.5% of sales were made over the internet.

Stores falling into the 'predominantly non-food' category showed sales volume increase of 4% year-on-year, with value up 3.4% and average prices down an estimated 0.5%.

The ONS also revealed that shop price inflation had slowed to 0.2% in July, its lowest rate since October 2009. The annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) meanwhile increased to 2.6% for the month.

While the trading period covered the first two days of the Olympics, the ONS said "feedback from retailers suggests that there has been no impact on sales from the Games in this trading period."