UK shoppers rushing to pick up high-strength vacuum cleaners before an EU ban helped lift retail sales last month.
Store sales rose 3.9% in August compared to a year ago, and edged up 0.4% on July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The year-on-year increase is the 17th month in a row of consecutive year-on-year growth, and is allied with 18 months of quarterly rises.
The star performers for UK retail sales last month were household goods which jumped 12.7% year-on-year. Within this category furniture sales jumped 23.4%, its largest growth since records began in 1988.
Electrical appliance stores also saw a spurt in sales, driven by an EU ruling which banned sales of vacuum cleaners with motors above 1,600 watts from September 1.
But sales pressure on retailers continued as prices in August fell by 1.2% over the year, the largest fall since July 2009.
The main contributor to the fall came from petrol stations with prices down 5% over the year.
The ongoing supermarket price wars also pushed food prices down 0.1%, the first fall in annual prices since December 2004 when it also fell 0.1%.
The UK's economic recovery has been built on consumer spending and rising house prices.
But some economists are concerned about the stability of this growth as average wages trail inflation and housing transactions begin to ease.
