|
| |
| |
|
| |
| |
| |
The downturn in the economy didn‘t stop many from spending money this Christmas and Boxing Day.
“It‘s been very busy – right on target to where we were last year,” said Mahad Bahal of Future Shop in Kelowna on Friday.
“Even the last few days before Boxing Day, we were making our budget, and today, they‘re coming out in droves.”
Bahal said shoppers were lined up at the door when the store opened at 5:45 a.m.
One couple got in ahead of the others.
“They were out there since Christmas night,” he said. “We opened up this morning (Friday) to let them in so they could shop by themselves for a few minutes,” he said.
Andres Car Audio sees business booming even as the economy squeaks along.
“I completely disagree that there is even a recession going on if our business is any indication,” said Dave Oakley, manager of Andres Car Audio in Kelowna.
“We set a record in November, and (in) December as well. We surpassed last year on Christmas Eve.
“Today is amazing. We have our most aggressive pricing ever.”
There was a similar report from the chain‘s larger store in Kelowna.
“We‘re just as busy as last year,” said Adele Myette at Andre‘s Audiotronics. “We weren‘t as busy first thing in the morning, but then we got super-busy.
“We‘ve brought prices down as low as we can go to keep the excitement level up.”
In Vernon, SportCheck made up for a pre-Christmas slowdown.
“We noticed that the sales before Christmas were quite slow, but we‘re well ahead for this Boxing Day compared with last year,” said Justin Dorval.
“People were waiting for the deal. There may be less money in the economy, but they came in for the deals.”
By 10 a.m., parking at Penticton‘s Cherry Lane Shopping Centre was at a premium.
Inside the mall, the longest line was at EB Games, where shoppers were lined up 30 to 40 deep outside the small shop to get a chance to buy video games at reduced prices.
Jenny Zoeller was lined up with her brother, Steve, to use a gift card he received for Christmas.
Steve said he wasn‘t looking for one game in particular, but would let the sale guide his purchase. Jenny wasn‘t fazed by the lineup.
“If we come back later in the afternoon, there‘s going to be tons more people,” the 16-year-old said.
Parked on a bench nearby with her infant daughter was Danielle Porter. The Comox Valley woman was in Penticton to visit relatives for the holidays.
Her husband was in line at EB Games.
“I endured the lines enough with the little ones,” Porter said with a laugh, explaining how she earned the rest break.
The holiday crowd didn‘t bother her, either.
“You wait hours over in the malls on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver,” she said. “They open up at, like, 7 or 8 a.m., and the lineups are a lot bigger than here.”
As for the elephant in the mall, the forecast economic recession, Porter said her family cut down on Christmas spending a bit, and “I think we used a lot more credit cards than in years before.”
Kelowna‘s Jim Spence, who works in construction and has had his hours severely cut back, packed a flat-panel TV into his van Friday morning.
“Last Christmas, we didn‘t give much thought to how much we were spending for Christmas because I was working so much overtime,” said Spence. “This year, it‘s different. That‘s why I waited for the Boxing Day sale.”
Top of Page
|
|
|
