Bad weather gets the blame for poor start to winter sales

STORES AROUND the State reported a disappointing start to sales yesterday morning, with things picking up somewhat in the afternoon. Many blamed bad weather for the slack sales in the early part of the day.

In Ballybofey, Co Donegal, the main department store, McElhinney’s, reported a “bit of a slow start” to its sale, which got under way yesterday. Business picked up as the day progressed, said senior manager Róisín Woods.

“We’re trading okay now so we are,” she said at lunchtime. “The roads have cleared of snow and ice so people are able to get into the town. We’d be hoping to make the same sales for December this year as we did last year. That’s the hope anyway. ”

Among the deals to be had for those who arrived as the store opened at 10am were bed linen sets reduced from €110 to €25 and Betty Barclay jackets reduced from €179 to €50.

Goods department store in Kilkenny described sales as “all right”.

“We opened at 10am,” said manager Kitty O’Halloran. “So far it’s all right. I can’t say how busy it will get. The thing is so many shops started their sales before Christmas that the start of the sales after Christmas are not as special.

“We have had a bad month in December. The weather has certainly put a big dampener on things. The second round of snow was horrendous. We’ll just hoping now there might be a boost in the run up to the new year,” she said.

Carmel McTigue, manager of Shaws department store in Castlebar, Co Mayo, said at lunchtime that sales so far had been “not too bad”. “We opened at 10am and there were a few people waiting outside. We had some ‘door openers’, like Regatta jackets down from about €50 to €20 and Killarney crystal glasses down from between €45 and €60, to €25.

“Things were tough before Christmas but we’d be hoping this year to match December sales last year. We were closed for three days over Christmas last year and only two this year so we’ll be hoping that helps and the frost and ice stay away. Every day counts,” she added.

Ian Fleming, spokesman for the Shaws 16-store group, said heavy rain particularly in the south and southeast yesterday, had meant a “slow start” for all stores.

“Here in Wexford it has been heavy rain all day. The hope is that we break even with the same day last year, but it’s only a hope to be honest. It’s very dark outside and not exactly inviting people out to the shops.”

Stephen Sealey, managing director with the Brown Thomas group reported his stores bucking the trend with “tremendous sales” across all locations in Limerick, Galway, Cork and in Dublin.