The current spell of wintery weather has already begun taking its toll on businesses.The sportswear and equipment retailer JJB Sports and the department store group John Lewis have both complained that the wintery conditions have been keeping shoppers away.While bad weather does not usually have a major impact on retailers, if the current cold spell continues for much longer it could result in people spending less on Christmas presents. It could even cause some shoppers to decide against buying expensive items such as TVs and fridges ahead of the rise in VAT in January - and perhaps even cancelling such purchases altogether.JJB's problems began well before the cold spell, but in a trading update today it said that challenging conditions that could lead to it breaching its banking covenants have been exacerbated by the bad weather.John Lewis said that sales this week so far have been hit by the poor weather in some of its stores. However, the company added that it had seen an increase in internet sales, demonstrating how the retail sector might fend off the negative impact of cold weather.However, John Lewis said it had seen strong sales of hats, gloves and scarves, a trend that was reported by many retailers last winter which also had some cold spells.Howard Archer, chief European & UK economist at the forecasting group IHS Global Insight, said that as well as retailers of winterwear, utility groups are likely to do well as people crank up their heating.Three of the 'big six' energy suppliers, Scottish Power, British Gas (owned by Centrica) and Scottish and Southern have already announced prices and will reap the rewards of strong energy demand in the past couple of days.Archer pointed out that leisure operators such as bars and hotels are likely to be hit by the bad weather, as is the construction sector. However, he pointed out that the builders recovered quickly last winter by stepping up their activity once the bad weather cleared.