Scottish retail sales lag pre-pandemic levels despite St Valentine’s Day and office return boost

Scottish retail sales still lag pre-pandemic levels despite a modest rebound in the high street’s fortunes last month, industry figures today reveal.

Total sales north of the Border fell by 6.3 per cent in February, compared with the same month two years earlier in 2020, just ahead of the first lockdown, when they had decreased by 0.8 per cent.

Sales had fallen by a sharper 7.9 per cent in January, on the same two-year comparison.