Last-minute rush packs out stores
FAR Northerners searching for a last-minute Christmas bargain are set to throng to shopping centres in Cairns today, with hundreds taking advantage of extended trading hours across the city last night.
Stockland Earlville and Cairns Central were buzzing with shoppers loading up with Christmas food, wrapping paper and last-minute gifts in the lead-up to Christmas Day, with jewellery, clothes, sweets and homewares among the most popular of gifts.
Goldmark Jewellers Stockland store manager Kayleigh Mills said the store had become progressively busy in the lead-up to Christmas, after suffering a slight slump over the weekend.
“Today is the busiest day that it has been in four or so weeks – I think people hurried in at the beginning of December and then it quietened down right up until Monday,” she said.
“A lot of people are comparing prices, everybody is out to get their bargains and nobody is buying on instinct … they’re making sure they get the best deal.
“As soon as buyers have found the best price, which we think we have 90 per cent of the time, they’ll come back.”
Stockland Earlville welcomed customers until midnight last night, but is set to revert to its usual closing time of 6pm today, while Cairns Central will also leave doors open until 6pm today.
Ms Mills said the week leading up to Christmas saw a number of customers making purchases that had been planned earlier in the year.
“We have a great clientele, with people coming through all year and looking, so we have a lot of repeat customers, as well as a lot of customers that we’ve never seen before,” she said.
“We tend to see people come in with a budget and a price, and then look for something to fit it.
“We don’t want to upset their budgets by forcing something on them, but we always find them something.”
Brinsmead shopper Stephanie McKinnie, who was making last-minute purchases at Cairns Central yesterday, said she had left the majority of her Christmas shopping until the last minute.
“I only started shopping yesterday,” she said.
“I like to do my lists and then just knock over the shopping in two days – it’s best to get it out of the way.
“I come in and do what I have to do and then get out, I don’t mess around.’’
She said she planned to spend Christmas with family and friends.
“I would tell people to not leave their shopping to the last minute and make a list of ideas before they head out.”
Shoppers looking to get a last-minute photo with Santa or to have presents wrapped will be able to do so until the close of business tonight, with both Stockland Earlville and Cairns Central offering festivities in the lead-up to Friday.