HIGH street jeweller Goldsmiths has given hope of a seasonal sales boom for retailers as it issued sparkling trading figures for the vital pre-Christmas period.

In the key four weeks to Christmas Eve, Goldsmiths - which has a shop in Blackburn town centre - said sales on a like-for-like basis, stripping out income from new stores, were up 26.3 per cent compared with last year. Chairman and chief executive Jurek Mr Piasecki said: "This is an excellent performance by the group with the growth in sales being evenly spread across the country with no significant regional differences."

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