Brands are beginning to release their Christmas sales figures as January ticks on – and many are better than expected.

Dunelm, Aldi and Hobbycraft, which all have outlets in Norwich, have each posted positive trading updates this week, seeing a growth in sales and shaking off the fears held by many other high street retailers.

Discount supermarket Aldi reported it has had its best Christmas to date, ringing up sales of almost £1bn in the UK during December.

The company said that sales were driven by customers switching from other food retailers amid higher demand for its premium ranges.

Giles Hurley, chief executive of Aldi UK, said: 'Although we saw strong growth across all key categories, the standout performance was in our Specially Selected brand where shoppers treated themselves to premium products for a fraction of the price they would have paid elsewhere for similar quality products.'

Similarly, Hobbycraft said it had seen a boost thanks to a more diverse customer offering courtesy of workshops and 'Christmas Eve Boxes'.

The group, owned by private equity firm Bridgepoint, saw like for like store sales rise 7.1% over the six weeks to December 24, while online revenue rocketed 28%.

Meanwhile at homeware retailer Dunelm, like-for-like sales were 9% higher in the 13 weeks to December 29.

The company said total growth at group level was 2%, reflecting the closure of the underperforming Worldstores and Kiddicare websites.

Comparable sales in store were up 5.7% compared to the same period last year.