Shoppers spend €120m in city over festive period
Shoppers will have spent more than €120 million in Galway City over the Christmas and January sales – just marginally up on what was spent during the same period last year.
Footfall was definitely up in the city, something city businesses know for sure thanks to a new system used at the Christmas Continental Market which counted 607,000 people walking through Eyre Square during the four weeks, which probably translates to at least 210,000 people visiting the event on average three times each.
Retailer Anthony Ryan, Chairman of the Galway City Business Association, which represents businesses in the city centre, said they were quite happy with their trade performance, one that was predicted nationally by the Retail Excellence Ireland group, which represents retailers all over the country.
It is estimated that about €60m was spent in the city in the run-up to Christmas – that includes the city centre and shopping centres and retail parks across the city – and the same again is expected to be spent by the end of the sales towards the end of January.
“We knew people would continue to be cautious when it came to spending and you can’t blame them but we are happy that Galway performed on trend and that there was a marginal increase, probably 2% to 3%, on what was spent in the city at Christmas and the sales last year.
“The bad storms affected us last year and though we had windy and wet weather for the last week of the Christmas Market, the Saturday before Christmas was one of our strongest days and last Saturday, too, was particularly busy. Despite inclement weather on St Stephen’s Day, a good number of people turned out for the start of the sales.
“The retail sector had bottomed out in the past few years because of the recession, but we predict some growth and there’s a definite trend where more spending is expected nationally. The retail sector is always one of the hardest hit in recession and we knew that it would take a while for spending to trickle down to us. I am personally optimistic about the future and I often say to other retailers and our own staff here that we’re not doing too badly,” said Mr Ryan.
Retail Excellence Ireland, which surveyed 300 retailers across the country, noted that despite the positive economic outlook, consumer spending had been softer than expected and was only marginally up on the same period last year. As a result, retailers were offering major discounts post Christmas.
Discount or no discount, a number of shops will always attract a sales crowd because of gift cards and vouchers bought there as Christmas presents.
For more on this story, see this week's Galway City Tribune