Europe's big freeze hits retailers

Basic items like bread, toilet paper and milk are flying off supermarket shelves, as consumers stock up in the face of a massive European cold snap.

And while groceries are seeming a mini-boom, other retailers are feeling the effects of the bad weather.

"People just don't want to go shopping," Professor Jeremy Baker from the European Business School says.

"They want to stay home in the snug and warmth and forget about buying furniture and clothes and that stuff."

The BBC reports that as many as 400,000 fewer Britons took to the shops over the weekend, preferring instead to stay in the warmth and comfort of their own home.