Dutch sports retailers who took part in the Inretail Sport Monitor raised their sales by 2.5 percent for the third quarter, Sport Partner reports, compared with smaller rises of 0.7 percent in the first quarter and 0.8 percent in the second quarter. The third quarter got off to a promising start in July. August was weaker but sales were buoyant in September, with an increase of 7.9 percent. Surprisingly, sales declined by 1.5 percent in the running category for the quarter, despite a 2.9 percent increase in the number of customers, and after growth of 6.6 percent in the previous quarter. For the first three quarter of this year, sales reported by the participating Dutch retailers advanced by 0.8 percent, with an increase of 2.5 percent for footwear but a decline of 1.3 percent for apparel and a slight dip of 0.1 percent in equipment.

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