Pimm’s and trifle give Royal Wedding boost to Waitrose
THE extra Royal Wedding bank holiday pushed Waitrose sales up 23.1 per cent compared to last year’s Easter break, the supermarket said yesterday.
Total branch sales for the week to Saturday 30 April jumped as revellers stocked up for barbecues and street parties.
Popular items included trifle, with sponge sales rising 370 per cent on last year; champagne, which rose 109 per cent on 2010; and English wine, which jumped 82 per cent compared to a year earlier.
Pimm’s was also a popular choice over the bank holidays, with Waitrose shoppers buying three times more than last year.
Plastic spoon sales also rose a whopping 900 per cent, which the grocer credited to the popularity of street parties to mark the Royal Wedding.
Waitrose managing director Mark Price said: “We’ve seen a wave of entertaining across the country, which would only be rivalled by the Christmas and New Year period.”
Waitrose was one of several retailers to run out of Union Jack bunting before the event.
Many firms including B&Q and Eurotunnel reported a business boost thanks to the extended holiday weekend.
Retail consultants at CB Richard Ellis estimated that £500m would be spent on food, souvenirs and decorations for wedding celebrations across the country, on top of the normal lift in sales seen on ordinary public holidays.