John Lewis announced an average 17.1% fall in weekly sales yesterday, fuelling speculation that retailers will continue to feel the pinch well into 2009.
In their weekly sales report, the store chain blamed the heavy snowfall for the recent dip in sales, which caused many stores to reduce their opening hours.
The figures cover the first week in February, when snow storms brought many parts of the country to a standstill.
Barry Matheson, head of selling development at the company, said: "It the snow dominated the news all week, brought London to a virtual standstill on Monday, and had a huge impact on our customers' appetite to shop.
"The pattern of trade up and down the country matched the snowfall. London branches in the south-east were the most badly affected at the beginning of the week and later it was the turn of the south-west, the Midlands and parts of Scotland.
"With the snow easing on Saturday, sales rebounded to give us an increase for the day, and Sunday's performance also suggests that we may pick up some, but by no means all, of last week's lost trade."
Glasgow and Edinburgh branches fared better than their English counterparts, with below average falls in sales. The Glasgow branch in Buchanan Galleries recorded an 11.7% dip in sales, while the Edinburgh store noted a fall of 14%.
Aberdeen, where weather conditions were particularly bad, recorded a fall in weekly sales of 18.7%. Only the John Lewis website noted an increase in weekly sales of 7.9%. Milton Keynes was the worst affected store, with a fall in sales of 39.4%.
John Lewis, which is one of the few retailers to publish weekly figures, also stated that sales of childrenswear and white goods remained strong last week, while sales of cold weather accessories were also good. Across the business, homeware fell by 21.2%, electrical goods by 12.2% and fashion sales dropped by 16.8%.
However, even despite the mitigating snow factor, many retail analysts see this drop as further evidence that we are experiencing a so-called middle class recession.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "Given that John Lewis sales are seen as a good bellweather for the health of consumer spending, the data does highlight the fact that the economy has taken a hit from the snow at a time when it could least afford to, although at least this hit will be temporary."
Nevertheless, Mr Archer also pointed out that nothing long-term could be deduced from the drop in sales.
He added: "Obviously, with the weather conditions being so extreme, it is virtually impossible to deduce to what extent the recent declining underlying trend in John Lewis sales continued or even deepened."
Experts have also suggested that the dip in sales demonstrates how fragile the British high street is at present. Some suggest that, unless the weather gets better in the next few weeks, stores could be facing further falls in sales as shoppers choose to stay at home.
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