CHRISTMAS TRADE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 643, 22 December 1932, Page 13

CHRISTMAS TRADE.

An Extra Shopping Day This Year. GOOD PROSPECTS. Retailers are confident that the Christmas tradp this year is going to equal that of last year. Every day this week there have been big crowds of people in the streets throughout the day, and, for the most part, they have been shoppers. The cash trade has been particularly good, and even if the individual volume of purchases this year has been modest on the whole, the multiplicity of small purchases has provided the shopkeepers with satisfactory figures. There has been no noticeable hanging off this year on the part of the public, though one shopkeeper said this morning that there was bound to be a last-minute rush. One of the reasons for this, he said, was that there were many people who early made up their minds that presents would have to be strictly curtailed this year, or dispensed with altogether. When, however, such people found presents arriving for themselves, they felt bound to reciprocate, and necessarily, their purchases were made late. This factor was not, of course, altogether peculiar to this year. It was present in greater or lesser degree at every Christmas, but he had formed the impression that it was a more pronounced factor this year than usual. A TuU Week. The experience of most shopkeepers appears to be that the takings this year have so far approached very closely to those of last year. The important difference, so far as this year is concerned, is that it contains one more trading day than did the corresponding week a year ago, and this is expected to make a substantial difference ip the returns. Last year Christmas Day fell on the Friday, and the shops were closed from Thursday. This year traders will get the benefit of a full week’s trading, so that if the spending capacity of the public is at all equal to that of last year it is anticipated that the trading returns will be substantially higher. It is only when, as this year, Christmas Day falls on a 3unday that the shopkeepers are able to get the advantage of a full week’s trading. The spirit of the public is undoubtedly a spending spirit, and those who are able to do so appear to be making purchases in conformity with their means. ‘‘Of course,” said one shopkeeper, “if people have not got the money you cannot make them buy. There are a lot of people who have not got the money, but the rest of the community who are not so situated seem to be responding well to the Christmas appeal.” His own shop, he said, had been busy all the week, and he expected that from now on the rush would be more pronounced. Late Shopping. A lot of people were doing their shopping early, but there was still a proportion who would leave things to the last minute. This, he said, was understandable. It was not possible, in many cases, for the husband and wife to get out together in business hours on ordinary days, and for that reason they had to leave their shopping excursion, if they wished to make it together, till Christmas Eve. Christmas shopping was a family affair with many people, and for that reason he did not think the shopkeepers had any ground for complaint if many people deferred their shopping till Christmas Eve. “Of course,” he added, "we prefer that people should shop early, but we realise that there are some who cannot very well do so.” There were a lot of people in the city before midday to-day, and the tendency appears to be for the streets to become busy earlier each day. All branches of the retail trade are feeling the benefit of the stimulus that the week provides, though the big rush is being experienced by those businesses which deal in toys and other things appropriate for Christmas gifts.