Christmas shoppers braved the cold in thousands as they hurried to get their shopping done in the weekend which was frantic for retailers who are now hoping to beat last year's earnings records.
Retailers say that this week is nicely building up as a climax approaches next week since festive shopping goes into high gear in the seven days before Christmas. The Scottish Retail Consortium is however cautious and said that it was too early to predict if earnings would beat last Christmas ones of £4 billion.
Braehead, near Glasgow has seen shoppers storming through its doors all weekend and general manager Peter Beagley admitted that business was brisk and strong, "Since we extended our opening hours for the month of December to 10pm we have seen a massive increase in the amount of shoppers. We were full even before midday," he said. Gap, French Connection and Laura Ashley are all hoping to net the fashion stakes in the festive season and have unleashed a price war, the likes of which are bound to dazzle even the most skeptical of consumers.
Edinburgh's Ocean Terminal is all set to cater to the frenzy as staff has been given strict instructions to prepare themselves for the shopping blitz that swamps the markets during Christmas. "We're going to have at least 60,000 people through the doors this weekend, it's extreme shopping and we've been flat out from first thing this morning," said OT's Duty manager Fay Jameson.
It is estimated that people will withdraw £120 million in this week alone and all the 4,111 ATM's in the country are filled to the brim. "In Scotland the focus is on Christmas and Hogmanay which leads to the festive period extending over a longer time frame than England and Wales," said Fiona Moriaty, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium.
"This sees increased levels of consumer spending between Christmas day through to early January, particularly on food and drink." Retail analyst FootFall estimates that the shopping frenzy will not equal last year's mad rush, but it will be a hectic time for retailers nevertheless.
Posted
on : Mon, 19 Dec 2005 08:05 GMT | General News
By : Mike Lawson
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