The Oz factor boosts retail sales

TILLS were ringing out across Ennis this week as bargain hunters thronged the streets for the annual sales.

A combination of free parking, ice-free roads and plenty of bargains saw shoppers come from across the county to Ennis for the sales.
But it wasn’t just people from Clare who were out looking for deals, with shoppers all the way from Australia checking out the bargains at Patrick Bourke’s Menswear.
“We’ve had people who had emigrated to Australia and who are home from the holidays coming in to us. I haven’t seen anything like it since the ’80s when we had people coming back from England. We even had to send a pile of clothes out to Australia because two of the brands we carry are cheaper here than they are there. Our Facebook page has been working on getting the news out there to emigrants; we even had a guy order jeans after checking our Facebook page because he couldn’t get them in Australia. In another case we had someone whose partner is from Clare and they are living in London. They were listening to our ads on Clare FM on the internet while over there so they waited until they came back to buy one of our suits,” said Patrick Bourke.
According to Mr Bourke, the days leading up to Christmas and this week have been busy. “I don’t think we’re up on last year but if the next three days are as busy as the last few days have been, we’ll be level on last year. Our reductions are much more than they were last year. We are finding that people are buying more practical presents and spending is down per head, the more expensive things are only sold when they are reduced. We had reductions before Christmas, which helped massively, as people could see we were giving value. Retailers need to try hard and give value and not just be selling cheap things cheaply but selling good quality items at a reasonable price.”
On Tuesday morning there were people queuing outside the County Boutique on O’Connell Street for its sale. Gwen Culligan said, “We had a very good first day. The sale started on Tuesday and there were people outside the door when we opened, waiting to get in. I’ve never seen as many people around on the first day of the sales and I’ve heard from others that it’s the same around the town, there is certainly a big crowd around. This is certainly a great year for bargains.”
As usual, shoes are amongst the most popular item among sale shoppers, with Pat McCarthy Shoes reporting brisk trade.
David McCarthy said, “Tuesday was very busy, with a good crowd around the town. There was some rain on Wednesday morning so it wasn’t as busy but by noon it picked up again and we’ve been busy throughout the day. It has been a milder December so people are able to get into Ennis for the sales and of course there are lots of bargains around.”
Meanwhile, in Killaloe business was brisk, particularly in fashion and boutique shops as shoppers took advantage of reductions of between 50% and 75%.
Killaloe/Ballina Traders’ Association chairperson Mariam O’Donovan confirmed the sales are attracting good crowds of shoppers to the twin communities.
Ms O’Donovan noted there are some great sales in a number of retail outlets, particularly in fashion shops, which are offering discounts of up to 75%.
“People are coming to see the bargains on offer in Ballina and Killaloe. We had a very busy day on Wednesday and expect a similar strong trade on Thursday.
“All the traders in the two communities are working together to boost business in 2012,” she said.

Promotions restore Christmas cheer to shops

Trading over the Christmas period in Kilrush has been helped this year by a number of local initiatives including free parking, local retail vouchers and pre and post-Christmas promotions.
According to Karen Whelan of the Kilrush Chamber, trading has been good and there was great Christmas atmosphere in the West Clare town this festive season. The uptake of a voucher ­initiative introduced by the ­chamber ­together with the retailers in 2009, has improved with further sales of the vouchers this year, which are aimed at keeping business local.
The vouchers can be used in a variety of retailers in Kilrush who are members of the chamber and according to Ms Whelan, this ­initiative has “worked quite well”.
“We have a lot of them sold. It is a way to try to keep business in Kilrush. Businesses take them for Christmas and clubs take them during the year and you can use them in most of the shops so it is good and very positive. The week was very good for businesses and the long week was better as well because it worked out very well and in general there was good feedback.
“We had two hours’ free
parking up until Christmas Eve facilitated by the council, so that helped and the same as in Ennis, there were a lot of promotions,” she said.
Shoppers are still aplenty in Kilrush with the new year sales in full swing and Ms Whelan added, “Town has been very busy, both today and yesterday.”
Meanwhile, PJ Quirke, ­operations manager of SkyCourt Shopping Centre in Shannon, said while it is still too early to say if people will come out for the sales, all the signs are encouraging. “Since Christmas, it has been steady enough but some of the sales haven’t started here yet, a few are starting on Friday. We are quite happy though. Before Christmas was busier than last year, especially the few days leading up to Christmas, they were well up on last year,” he commented on Thursday.
In recent times, people have been encouraged to shop locally to help sustain businesses in their own areas and Mr Quirke felt the public are responding.
“The weather was better this year than in the previous few years but having said that, I think that this year people decided to stay at home and shop local. The fact the weather was bad last year meant people had to stay at home but this year they didn’t have to but they did. It was great.”
He acknowledged there is less business now than in the heady days of the Celtic Tiger but said Christmas had still been a success. “It would be well down on then but we’re up on last year and that’s a good thing. People did get the message, stay at home and shop ­local, so we’re very happy with that.”