The number of high street retailers suffering financial collapse rose 10.3% between April and June as the wet weather added to their woes, a report said.
The number of retailers to fall into insolvency - including high profile victims Clinton Cards and Game - rose to 426 in the second quarter of 2012, up from 386 last year, according to a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) .
The number of high street casualties has been increased year-on-year in each of the past four quarters but the wettest April and June on record intensified retailers' problems by keeping shoppers at home and dampening demand for summer clothes.
In the wider economy the picture was brighter with insolvencies down 3% on 2011, despite the UK being in the longest double-dip recession on record.
PwC retail specialist Mike Jervis said: "There has been a clear reduction in the incidence of insolvencies over the current recession compared to previous ones, but retail is the sector which keeps bucking this trend."
He said many retailers have too many high street stores as shoppers increasingly move online to sites such as Amazon.
The PwC survey showed that the overall number of insolvencies saw the biggest increase in North East and Cumbria, up 70% to 277. The West saw failure levels drop nearly a third to 117.
