Bumper start to sales boosted by early kick-off on St Stephen's Day
Bargain hunters hit Brown Thomas in Cork yesterday
Monday December 28 2009
THE traditional post-Christmas sales binge, which started a day earlier this year, is already a bumper one -- with one store reporting its biggest sales day of 2009 on Saturday.
Shops across the country reported buoyant sales and healthy footfall yesterday as neither the recession nor the icy weather appeared to deter bargain hunters.
Arnotts general manager Leesa Kavanagh was delighted with the decision by the Dublin store to break with 100 years of tradition and open on St Stephen's Day.
"It was the biggest sales day of the entire year, it was absolutely huge," she said.
Ms Kavanagh added that the massive boost to sales was due in no small part to the appearance of the 'X Factor' stars Jedward to open the store. While the duo were reported to have received up to €20,000 for their performance, Ms Kavanagh would only say "they were worth every penny" and had drawn huge crowds.
Yesterday, in Dundrum Town Centre on the south side of Dublin, the car park was 95pc full by noon, as thousands flocked to the shops for cut-price deals, according to centre director Don Nugent.
"There is a lot of great value. A lot of retailers were more cautious with their buying so the stock is cleaner and they have taken a deep cut, with 40-50pc cuts, rather than starting at 20pc," he said.
In House of Fraser, most departments said they were experiencing substantially increased buying, with women's handbags, men's formal wear and homeware selling particularly well.
Mr Nugent said Dundrum had experienced an uplift straight after the Budget and he predicted 2009 would prove 6-7pc better than last year in terms of footfall, with less improvement in revenue due to the general drop in prices.
Tom Coffey of Dublin City Business Association said the true success of the earlier opening could not be assessed until after the sales period ended.
However, he said there had been a perceptible lift in consumer confidence since the Budget and while there would undoubtedly be more closures in the new year, it would create opportunities for other traders to come into the market.
Gamble
In Cork, retailers said trade was brisk and reported that the gamble of opening one day earlier had paid off for stores such as Debenhams, Next, H&M and Brown Thomas.
A Brown Thomas spokeswoman said they were very pleased with sales at the store yesterday. "It was slow initially because of icy road conditions but by midday, when the ice started to thaw, it really picked up. It was mobbed in the afternoon."
Cork Business Association said traders in the city were very happy with the retail sales in December, saying footfall was way up.
Meanwhile, Galway retailers resisted the temptation to break with tradition and waited until yesterday to let the bargain hunters through their doors.
Even the large chain stores such as Brown Thomas and Debenhams, which had opened elsewhere in the country on December 26, remained closed with Curry's electrical store in the city being virtually alone in opening on St Stephen's Day.
There was a healthy flow of shoppers from midday through Galway's Shop Street and in the shopping centres yesterday.
One of Galway's longest established outlets, Geraghty's Menswear, reported a busy first day. Spokesman Aidan Malone said: "We're looking forward to a good sale."
- Grainne Cunningham, Olivia Kelleher and Brian MacDonald
Irish Independent
