Homeowners were desperate to get out and buy things for their homes when lockdown lifted, according to homewares giant Dunelm.
When the latest lockdown lifted last month sales from its stores shot up, it said.
It comes a day after the boss of Topps Tiles said his business also saw a big jump in sales as the lockdowns eased.
After announcing a record end to 2020 鈥 before the most recent lockdown 鈥 Topps chief executive Rob Parker told BusinessLive: 鈥淧eople have fallen back in love with their homes.鈥
He said the positive outlook from the Bank of England, and homeowners keen to get on with the next project after completing the last one, were also helping.
In a trading update for the last seven weeks Leicestershire-based Dunelm said sales were almost 60 per cent up on where they were two years ago, pre-Covid.
It expects profits to be well ahead of expectations as a result. Shares in the business were up more than 4 per cent this morning at around 拢15.22.
It said: 鈥淪ales growth has been very strong since the majority of our stores re-opened on April 12, and we continue to see good digital growth from our home delivery and click and collect channels.
鈥淭his high sales growth reflects the strength of our customer proposition and a variety of other factors including pent-up demand following the extended store closure period, a buoyant homewares market and some benefit from the unseasonably cold Spring weather.
鈥淚n the five weeks since our stores re-opened, we have performed significantly ahead of the market.
鈥淎s a result of this recent performance, the board expects full year profit before tax (PBT) will be significantly ahead of the latest range of analysts鈥 expectations.
鈥淲hilst there is still some uncertainty in the short-term outlook, we anticipate full year pre-tax profit will be in excess of 拢148 million.鈥
Last month Dunelm chief executive Nick Wilkinson said he had been keen to get the chain鈥檚 entire estate of 175 stores back open and trading, despite online sales more than trebling since the start of the first lockdown.
Russ Mould, investment director at online stockbroker AJ Bell, said Dunelm joined a growing list of retailers to say that earnings were better than expected.
鈥淭he reopening of shops follow lockdown appears to have gone very well for a lot of retailers thanks to pent-up demand. Dunelm is certainly among them, but one must heed to a warning from fashion seller Next that recent trading patterns are unlikely to be indicative of the rest of the year. That will apply to the whole retail sector, not just Next.
鈥淧ut simply, a lot of us have amassed quite a bit of spare cash during the various lockdowns and we鈥檙e ready to go on a spending spree. But once that money is gone, spending levels seem almost certain to ease back.
鈥淚n addition to this pent-up demand driving trading in recent weeks, Dunelm will have also benefited from a poor bout of weather. Bored at home, but with more freedom to get out, consumers are likely to have ventured to shops with good parking spots just to pass the time. Dunelm is often located on retail parks where parking is plentiful.
鈥淭he surge in the property market will also play to its strengths. People either moving home or doing up their home will find plenty of reasons to stock up on homewares from Dunelm.
鈥淗owever, there is an underlying feeling that Dunelm will have to enjoy the sales spike while it lasts, as it can鈥檛 go on forever.鈥
Dunelm was founded in 1979 by Bill and Jean Adderley, selling ready-made curtains on Leicester market.
The first shop opened in Leicester in 1984 and over the following years the business developed into a successful chain of high street stores before expanding into broader homewares, following the opening of the first Dunelm superstore in 1991.
Based on a business park near the county town of Syston, it is now the market leader in the 拢14 billion 海角视频 homewares market and has a share of the 拢12 billion 海角视频 furniture market.
Most of its stores are now on out-of-town shopping parks and the business employs around 10,000 people and sells around 50,000 product lines, including exclusive, own brand designs and brands such as Dorma and Fogarty.
It was listed on the London Stock Exchange in October 2006 and has a current market capitalisation of around 拢3 billion.
