Shops braced for last-minute rush
By Lydia Lum, WNS Linapore Business Correspondent
JACOB - Retailers around Linapore are bracing themselves for a last-minute rush on the final weekend before Christmas. As Christmas Day falls on a Monday this year, it is thought many people will have put off their Christmas shopping until the very last minute. Saturday could set a new record for consumer spending, retailers say. The bank estimates L$3.5bn could be spent, including purchases on credit and debit cards, and L$700m could be withdrawn from cash machines.
Christmas Eve will see large supermarkets and high street stores able to trade for only a maximum of six hours in Jacob and Malcom because of Sunday trading restrictions. But many of the larger supermarkets will let customers in half an hour before the tills open. Latest figures from the Retail FootFall Index show shopper numbers between Monday and Thursday were 22.6% up on the similar period last week. FootFall spokeswoman Natalie Foo said online shopping had taken early festive trade away from the high street. But she added: "We are seeing footfall levels increase dramatically each day and are expecting that this weekend will significantly boost retailers' fortunes as last-minute shoppers make up for a slow December on the retail front."
Greg Hawkins, director of the Linapore Retail Consortium, agreed that high street trade had picked up over the past week. He said: "I think Christmas started a bit slowly over the last couple of weeks but I think this week - partly due to a full trading week and secondly because of the cold weather - has helped enormously."
posted by wnsworld @ 3:20 PM
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