Open for business: the Christmas Day newsagents

For most people in Ireland, December 25th is a day for slouching, eating and keeping the peace with family. However, newsagents around the country will be open for business on Christmas Day, despite not having any actual newspapers to sell. And yet they do a brisk trade.

“In the four hours we’ll be open, we wouldn’t be far off doing a normal 14-hour day’s worth of trading,” says Michael Doyle, who runs the Spar shop on Strand Road in Portmarnock, Co Dublin.

“We cover our overheads. We’d sell some batteries for toys, yes, although there was a time when you’d sell hundreds of batteries on Christmas Day. A lot of toys have rechargeable batteries now.

“We also sell a lot of confectionery tins and selection boxes, mainly for people visiting relatives. We might easily sell 30 or 40 selection boxes and tins of sweets.

“People buy in advance, but come Christmas Day they find out they’ve either miscounted, or they’ve been eaten . . . The most popular things, apart from ordinary bread and milk, would generally be the in-store bakery, fresh cream and Christmas cards.”

On the tills this year will be Dorita, a Polish student, and Muhammad, a Bangladeshi man, both of whom are in their mid-20s.

“If I had to be behind the counter myself, I probably wouldn’t be open,” says Doyle.

Down’s in Ballincollig, Co Cork, will be one of a number of Centras open on the day; as will Healy’s in Killarney; and The Valley Newsagents in Swords, Co Dublin, from 10am to 4pm or 5pm.

“We benefit from our local community 364 days of the year, and we’re really here to provide a service on Christmas Day when someone just might be stuck,” says owner Aidan Roche, who will be working in the shop in Swords on the day.

“There was a lady who came in last year and had only realised she had very little electricity left; she was on a prepaid meter. We topped up her electricity card so she could continue cooking the turkey,” says Roche.

“I’m not saying the shop isn’t an economic entity, but it’s easier to do because it’s a family business. If we were paying for everything, we mightn’t cover overheads.”

They have opened on Christmas Day, with their hours generally based around local Mass times, since the white Christmas of 2010.

“It was very much focused on helping people who couldn’t travel big distances or who wanted to travel early in the day and get home in the evening,” says Roche.

“You’d generally find we solve a few crises. When we go ourselves to sit down for Christmas dinner, you kind of get a nice feeling that maybe you’ve helped somebody out of a spot.”