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Scrooge rules Christmas sales so far
With fewer than 10 days to Christmas, shoppers are mostly keeping a tight hold on their wallets, burned by a barrage of price increases from the Budget.
Sales in the last two weeks have been slow although some shops put up “Sale” signs well ahead of the Christmas season for electronic items and household goods.
These businessmen in Pettah (above and top ) are hopeful that their sales will rise in coming weeks. Pix by Nilan Maligaspe
Shop managers are hoping sales will increase next week.
Discounts of up to 50 per cent in addition to other promotions are on offer for electronic items, shoes, clothing and toys.
Banks are also cashing in on the festive season: one is offering a 25 per cent discount off clothing and accessories for those using its credit card at selected shops and others have made attractive offers of reduced hotel rates and holidays.
A popular jewellery outlet in Kollupitiya says it is confident of good business. “The range of gift items from European and Asian-styled necklaces to birthstone rings would attract plenty of customers, and we anticipate our store to be quite full up this season,” said store marketing manager Sumudu Fernando.
“People start filing in during the second week of December,” said Sriyal Cooray, manager of a shoe shop at Majestic City Bambalapitiya. “We expect our sales to start increasing now.”
Romesh Kulatunga, executive chef of a prominent Colombo 7 coffeehouse that he says has a 9000-member customer base, said he was well prepared, with a festive menu that offers seasonal specials such as traditional roast turkey, Australian lamb and pudding
“Our coffeehouse has been in operation for the last 15 years and our customers are families and teens, all of them coming in to either relax or let themselves go. We are ready to give them the best this Christmas,” Mr Kulatunga said
“Our Christmas tree,” he added, “is unique. The decorations are made of traditional food items, and the cinnamon stick decorations
The malls are prettily decorated but where are the shoppers?
hanging on the tree truly bring out that Christmassy smell.”
The slight Christmas chill grips shoppers in a street lit up by dazzling illuminations. People make their way through the heavily decorated shops, some clearly excited by the new product arrivals in most clothing stores. Others shake their heads over the high prices.
“This is one costly Christmas,” declared 20-year-old Julian Claessen, who was looking for gifts for his family. “The clothes are quite pricey these days and even the decorations seem to have gone up in price.
“The shop decorations are marketing tactics rather than a celebration of Christmas,” he said, adding that although the street decorations were attractive, “Colombo can do much better”.
“I visited lots of shops and there were some new designs that caught my attention
This coffee shop in Colombo boasts a unique Christmas tree
but the prices have gone up,” said Nuwini Walimuni, 30, adding, “I think most stores started the shopping season quite early this year.”
Seasoned shopper Heshani Perera, 25, agrees: “The new designs are eye-catching but the price tags are quite hefty,” she said.
China Street in Pettah is filled with shops selling Christmas decorations.
One shop manager, Zaharan Ali, said: “It is the companies that buy decorations at the beginning of the season. Ordinary people come around in the weeks that follow.”
“Our products are imported from China and will have no price changes,” he said.
But shoppers have been hit by unexpected price fluctuations following the Budget’s price hikes on many consumer items, including imported goods.
Jacintha Dias, 42, who makesChristmas cakes for sale, told the Sunday Times that cake ingredients were costly compared to other years, particularly the price of cashew nuts.
“We are told that they are importing cashew nuts from India and that’s why why prices have increased, but we’re not sure if that’s correct because cashew nuts are available in this country,” she said. “Even during the height of the terrorist problems we didn’t have problems about prices though many of the cashew plantations are in the north and east.”
As the crowds prepare to make the best of the festive season, regulatory bodies are making preparations to handle any tense situation that could arise.
Deputy Director of the Consumer Affairs Authority Asela Bandara said, “The authority has set up a special program to solve disputes between traders and consumers and this will be closely monitored by our officers.”
“Warehouses will also be closely monitored because we have identified that this is a particular point of entry for goods with expired use-by dates. Consumers will also be able to submit their complaints via our hotline or through a fax.”
“Police officers will be on round-the-clock duty in Colombo and other major cities this festive season,” said police spokesperson SSP Ajith Rohana, adding that some officers will be patrolling in civilian clothing. There are to be special traffic plans for Colombo.