Unsettled and unseasonal weather in the lead up to Christmas and New Year meant high street retail and regional holiday spots didn’t jingle as much at first, or as early in December as in previous years.
With the exception of top performing tourist spots Otago and Nelson, the slow start to the festive month was initial cause for concern for many retailers.
Bay of Plenty fashion retailer, Peter Patterson, owner of mens and women’s fashion store, Pattersons, says “as soon as the weather improved, so did sales of women’s fashion,” and, while noting pre-Christmas and Christmas sales were not up to previous years, his fashion outlet experienced a good crowd of holiday makers happy to spend once the sun came out.
An observation from his sales assistants was that holiday makers were pleased to be fussed over and given ample time to make their (multiple) purchases.
Shopping malls
Bayfair Centre manager, Steve Ellington, reported a strong start to Christmas sales that continued all throughout the holiday, referring to a good month with the “Bay in boom”, reflected in Paymark figures as 5.9 per cent up, year on year.
With retail under cover at Bayfair, the weather was a positive factor for retailers and customers were happy to spend and linger.
On the back of an 18 month solid growth period and significant growth within department stores Farmers and Kmart, the centres, and many speciality stores, December kept tenants busy.
The trend for night markets, started in Auckland (now numbering eight) spreading down to the Bay of Plenty,and tipped to continue to grow, also contributed to good sales.
The first market, held on a Sunday, at Bayfair resulted in an extra 4000 customers in the shopping centre.
Situated on the ground floor car park and undercover, the night market is a regular drawcard for Bayfair.
Desiree Clark, senior marketing manager at Botany Town Centre, reported a good, steady start to December spending, which picked up a week before Christmas and continued to grow until New Year’s Eve.
Notable was the very relaxed celebrating atmosphere missing from the previous festive season.
The centre’s charity fund raisers commented on how much more generous the shopping crowd was last month.
All precincts within the centre, especially hospitality, giftwares, and homewares, experienced a year on year improvement in spending, including the fashion precinct, which offered significant discounts and VIP pampering evenings.
Overall, judging from the responses, there was significant jingling around the country.
