Shops feel the chill as country basks in mild winter Momentum would no doubt have been greater if it wasn't for the unseasonably mild weather. Outdoor clothing retailers Blacks, currently facing the threat of administration after months of poor trading, was forced to slash its prices ahead of the Boxing Day sales on waterproof jackets, gloves and fleeces as they failed to hit demand. While the past two winters Arctic conditions paralysed much of the country, this winter temperatures only briefly dipped below double figures in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Simon Hill, manager at clothing manufacturers British Thermals, said he was hoping for the temperature to drop a few degrees more to help shift some of his stock of thermal underwear, which he said was sold out by Christmas Day last year. The small family-run shop Bunty Wool in Ealing, west London, has also suffered from the unseasonal mild weather. The store's manager Abdul Hafeez said sales were down 25 per cent, with less customers knitting scarves and hats for their grandchildren for Christmas. David Bailey, Sainsbury's weather analyst, said: "We know shoppers" buying habits change according to the weather - a temperature change of three degrees from the seasonal average can result in sales of some products going up by as much as 50 per cent. We've been working hard to forecast conditions and ensure our shelves are fully stocked with everything our customers need. Richard Dodd from the British Retail Consortium said the weather was the second most important determining factor in how much money customers spend and what they spend it on. "What retailers want is for weather to follow the season and stick to the script," Mr Dodd said. Clothes like winter coats, scarves and boots are not selling as well as retailers would have expected or planned for and so that will have left them with a lot of stock and forced them to discount in a big way before the Christmas sales. "Customers have also been less interested in things like soups and stews and other sorts of cold weather food, which would not have been the case if it was bitter," he said. One major coal supplier said sales were down 40 per cent on last winter, with less people needing to heat their homes. Councils have also been left with huge stockpiles of grit after spending millions on supplies in anticipation of a big chill following last year's arctic temperatures. Town halls in England and Wales have about 1.4 million tonnes of salt to hand, the Local Government Association said, and many in the south of the country still have up to 90 per cent still in store. However, council gritters may face a long wait until they are called into action as the Met Office said the country is set to see more of the same mild weather in the New Year and well into January. Next week will see unsettled and blustery conditions, but temperatures are likely to stay above 12 degrees in much of the south and the Midlands, according to Tom Morgan, forecaster at the Met Office. "We could see a drop to high single figures the week after," he said, "but none of the frost and snow that characterised last winter is expected in the foreseeable future."