St David’s expectations for 2nd successful Christmas

3rd December 2010

St David’s - Wales’ biggest shopping destination - has high expectations for a record-breaking Christmas this year.

Celebrating its second Christmas since the £675m extension, St David’s has now brought more than 100 new stores to Cardiff as it prepares for its busiest month of the year.

St David’s Centre Director Steven Madeley said: “Christmas is the most important time for retailers who may take up to 50 percent of their annual takings in this period. Retailers are savvy enough to realise that shoppers will be spending their way through the month to have a happy Christmas and are going to great lengths to ensure they end the year on a high.

“We are expecting this Christmas to show good growth on last year. Last year we had a record Christmas with shoppers coming to see what St David’s could offer them. Now St David’s is firmly established in the city and we have also opened many more stores since then, so we anticipate that the momentum will continue into the Christmas period.

“Consumers have faced a difficult year but now they are generally in two camps; firstly, those who have realised that they have not been affected by the economic situation in that they still have their job and their bills haven’t risen. The second is those who feel their job is under threat so they may think that this is their last Christmas to push the boat out. Christmas is a time of year that consumers are sentimentally attached to and this year they are certainly not significantly curtailing their spending.

“In January, retailers will be taking stock of how successful their Christmas has been at the same time that VAT is set to increase by 2.5% to 20%. Some items are VAT exempt but for low value items, it won’t make that much of a difference. When the VAT went down, I think people realised that it only saved them a few pence so after this experience they aren’t as worried about it going up. For larger ticket items where the increase is more significant, consumers may choose to bring forward their purchase to pre-December and we are certainly seeing an increase in the number of shoppers coming in to make big buys. With the number doing this pre-Christmas on top of all the other Christmas shopping, we are expecting a very busy Christmas indeed.”

All stores have increased their resource for the Christmas rush, some by up to 50 percent whether this is a part time staff member who has upped their hours or a Christmas temp who has been training at the store for the last two months in preparation for the number of shoppers coming to St David’s. Late night shopping on weeknights will also prove popular with up to a quarter of shoppers on certain nights coming to St David’s after 5pm. From December 16, stores will be open even later until 10pm on weekdays to make it easier for consumers to shop.

Each year, the sales are predicted to start earlier than the last but Mr Madeley isn’t convinced for this Christmas.

He continued: “A couple of years ago, retailers went into sale earlier than usual and their shoppers became wise to this and in subsequent years tried to hold out until the sales started. Retailers have reacted to this and I think that is why they didn’t go to sale any earlier last year than previously and I expect this year to see the same pattern. Shoppers who do keep waiting for a sale may find themselves disappointed, especially if they have their eye on specific items.”

For more information on St David’s, visit www.stdavidscardiff.com or search St David’s / Dewi Sant on Facebook.

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