Retail sales fell on an annual basis for the first time in six months in November after a Covid-19 shutdown of large parts of the economy led to a 4.7% year-on-year drop, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
Non-essential shops, restaurants and most pubs were shut for the whole of November.
They reopened last month in what proved to be a brief respite as a huge surge in infections led to the imposition of an even stricter lockdown at the end of December that Government ministers say could keep shops closed for three months.
On a monthly basis, the CSO said that the volume of retail sales decreased by 12.8% in November when compared to October.
Today's CSO figures show that bar sales in November 2020 sank by 91% compared to November 2019, with clothing, footwear and textiles down 58% and department store sales 33% lower.
That was partly offset by a 33% jump in electrical goods sales, and rises of more than 23% in hardware and food.
The CSO also said that when car sales are excluded, the volume of retail sales decreased by 12% in November over the previous month and were down by 3.3% on an annual basis.
Today's figures also showed that the proportion of retail sales transacted online increased to 12.3% in November from 6% in October, although it remained below the high of 15.3% recorded in April at the height of the first lockdown.
