Positive Christmas sales for Newry retailers

With retail and hospitality sectors struggling in recent times, this Christmas it would appear that a footfall in Newry has improved on last year as shopping habits are affected by Christmas Day falling mid-week.

Pictured with her family is the grand prize winner from Buttercrane’s Christmas Giveaway competition – Bernadette McCrink won £2,500 holiday voucher with Centre Manager Peter Murray and Santa

Buttercrane Shopping Centre Manager Peter Murray said, “Christmas falling on a Wednesday certainly changed the shoppers habits pushing spend further into December as many people had the confidence to ‘hold off’ buying until the final countdown to Christmas.

“The weekend before Christmas saw huge numbers coming to the city and to Buttercrane and many of our retailers have reported that Monday the 23rd December delivered their best trading day in years which is very positive.

“Pre-Christmas sales in three different chain stores offering 20-40% off also offered great value and drove shopper numbers,” he revealed.

Buttercrane also reported record sales of Gift Cards in December – in part due to their successful £500 daily giveaway which 1000s of people entered. Newry woman Bernadette McCrink won the final £2500 prize on Christmas Eve.

“Obviously we won’t know the full extent of how footfall has translated into spend until we run our January retail review but it certainly appears positive for Buttercrane retailers at the close of the year,” Peter added.

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Posted by Newry Times News on Jan 3 2014. Filed under Business, Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry