Cautious shoppers spending more time

Dublin city retailers have reported more cautious spending by consumers this Christmas, but said retail spending is still higher here than in many European countries.

The Dublin City Business Association (DCBA) said that December 8th was no longer one of the biggest shopping days of the year because Christmas shopping started earlier now and shops were open longer.

Tom Coffey, the DCBA chief executive, said retailers had noticed a shift in spending in the past 18 months. People were being more careful, and were spending more time looking for the right item.

"The top of the market is still doing really well, and the bottom end is doing fantastically well, but the middle bit of the market is being squeezed," he said.

"The 8th of December isn't this huge rush of country people coming to Dublin anymore because they are coming all the time."

Blanchardstown shopping centre in west Co Dublin attracts strong custom from the outlying counties and its 7,000 parking spaces were full by midday on Saturday, said operations manager Pat Fitzgerald.

He said up to 120,000 people visited the centre yesterday and on Saturday. "Retailers are expecting a 4 per cent to 5 per cent increase on last year."

Dublin Chamber of Commerce spokesman Aebhric McGibney said there was evidence that the slowdown in the house market had affected retailers involved in areas such as furnishings and fittings.

However, he pointed out that volume retail sales between September 2006 and September 2007 was 6.5 per cent in Ireland, compared with 2.5 per cent in the EU.