BY MICHAEL BRESLIN
People hungry for a bargain were able to get down to some serious shopping even earlier than usual this year, with many stores offering on-line sales on Christmas Day.
For the more traditional shoppers, St Stephen's Day (Boxing Day) marked the start of the real bargain hunt. With Christmas Day only just over, trading was brisk in Erneside Shopping Centre in Enniskillen, with the traditional 'Next' post Christmas sale attracting buyers through the doors from the early hours of the morning.
While other town centre shops and groceries stores were also busy. Of particular importance to Enniskillen stores this Christmas has been the sterling/euro exchange rate, retailers, apart from one, reporting huge numbers of shoppers coming across the border to make the most of Enniskillen shops and, indeed to sample the new and existing multiples.
Also proving popular were purchases of electrical goods, with TV's, DVD's and stereo systems all being snatched up early.
There was much speculation this Christmas as to how the High Street independent retailers in Enniskillen would fare against the likes of Dunnes, Asda and Tesco, and the general feeling was that by drawing in extra 'footfalls' (shoppers) to the town, the smaller shops enjoyed a knock-on effect.
However, retailers, almost to a man/woman, were not at all happy at what they described as the mostly 'aggressive' attitude of the red-coated parking attendants. One prominent and angry High Street businessman, who asked not to be named, told the 'Herald' that his customers felt 'hounded instead of encouraged'.
"They don't give the shopper a second chance. It can be a matter of seconds between getting a ticket and not getting a ticket. So, certainly, it's a big issue for it was on the tip of the tongue from some of our customers. Did we lose out from people being scared away? Who can tell. You never know the ones you've lost".
Turning to trade in the High Street generally, he described it as 'good', with plenty of shoppers coming to town and, in his opinion, Enniskillen looked good: "The lights were good, the trees were good and the Council did a good job, for instance, providing the music at the Diamond. We felt there was a good atmosphere in the town and that that contributed to the feel good factor".
Andrew Kells, a co-director of S. D. Kells Ltd, which has shops in Enniskillen, Lisnaskea and Irvinestown reported business on a par with last year.
"There was a good run up to Christmas and, so far, we have had a good sales. The multiples probably bring people to the town and, where we would be losing out is not trading on Sundays. Some of the independents are doing it but we don't. You either do it or don't do it".
Robert Richmond, the manager of McElwaine's Electrical, which also has an outlet in Lisnaskea, reported brisk trading in luxury goods, larger TV sets, music centres, digital cameras and food processors.
CONFIDENT
And, he was confident that an independent like McElwaine's could more than hold their own against the multiples on several fronts: "We offer a better service. The multiples do attract a lot of people which we get a knock-on effect from, but people tend to come to us because we can deliver the purchases when they want them.
"We have them in stock, we instal them and take away the old one. That has to be a better service and you tend to find, if there are price comparisons done for like for like products that the independents are as competitive and we're probably adding a little bit of value in terms of delivery."
Southern customers loom large in the store and, Mr Richmond pointed to two recent purchases/deliveries, a piano that was brought to Roscrea in Tipperary and a 58" tv set to Kells in County Meath. He said the store offered a 'fresh out of the oven' exchange rate on the euro and, somewhat surprisingly, had a pat on the back for parking attendants.
"No, I'm not totally sure they scare people away. I might be the one who differs from a lot of people but I actually feel they have done a good job because it means that somebody driving through town has a chance of getting parked in front of our shop. I say that because the car that is there now has to move within the hour and that gives somebody else an opportunity to come in".
Desi Quinn of Desi Quinn Shoes across the street, while sharing many of Mr Richmond's views about competitiveness, disagreed strongly that the parking attendants were there for the good of his customers.
However, turning to trade in his store, he reported that while it was back on last year, it was still good.
"We had a long week leading into Christmas which spread things out a little bit and an important atraction was the opening up of Asda and Tesco which brought people to the town. We had a fair proportion of Southern customers. The big stores have brought more people into the town, particularly on Saturdays and Sundays and they have filtered up as far as us.
"I think the price of our stuff is generally cheaper than down South. You will get the odd person who will get a slight shock when their bill is calculated into sterling, but people are not annoyed. They are quite tolerant of the exchange rate we give for their euro".
Pat Keaney, the manager of The Butcher's Shop told the 'Herald' he had seen few euro coming across his counter. He put this down, in part, to the fact that the company had two shops in Derrylin but, also, to Southern shoppers getting their fingers burnt by some traders.
"Different people have different ideas", he suggested, "but, as far as I'm concerned, money is money and we give whatever the rate is and probably a wee bit better".
He reported that the traditional turkey and ham for the Christmas dinner was still his customers' favourite, and well matured sirloin steaks for the New Year. As for parking attendants, Mr Keaney suggested that some of them lacked 'a wee bit of tolerance', especially for those customers, such as taxi drivers collecting orders for elderly people, to nip in and out.
