Shoppers rushing to get last-minute Christmas buys today will have only a two-day respite from the big spending spree, as many of the main stores start their New Year sales on Saturday.
The "January" sales in many of the stores will begin well before the New Year arrives and shoppers will hardly have time to draw breath after the Christmas boom before they are back in the fray.
A Dublin Chamber of Commerce spokesman, Mr Noel Carroll, said that he expected the sales to be as successful as the preChristmas boom. There was a cycle of buoyancy, more people had more money to spend and there was more competition between stores and greater flexibility of opening times.
Marks and Spencer branches all over the Republic will begin their sales on Saturday, December 27th, opening their doors to bargain-hunters at 9 a.m. Deben hams, in the Jervis Street Shopping Centre in Dublin, will start its sale an hour earlier.
The Clerys sale in O'Connell Street and Tallaght will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday and the Brown Thomas and Switzers stores will open at 10 a.m. The Boyers sale begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Arnotts is starting its sale at 11 a.m. on Monday, December 29th, and in its Shoe Store in the Stillorgan Shopping Centre on Saturday, December 27th.
Other stores are starting their sales later. Dunnes Stores' sales begin in all branches Sunday, January 4th, at 9 a.m. Sales in all of the Roches Stores branches begin on Tuesday, January 13th.
Some pharmacies will open for short periods on rotation over the holiday to cater for people who may be unwell. Although all pharmacies will be closed on Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day, a number will open for short periods. A spokeswoman for the Irish Pharmaceutical Union said that members would be displaying their opening times over the Christmas and, where shops were closed, the nearest open pharmacy would be indicated.
Local authority emergency services will remain on call over the Christmas period. Numbers can be found in the telephone directory and in the Yellow Pages.