Festive shopping: Glad tidings for some, not so for others
The malls in Colombo city are all decorated with baubles, tinsel, gold stars and festive music fills the air in anticipation of frenzied shopping with just one week to go for Christmas.
Retailers are resorting to discounts of up to 50 per cent to entice shoppers with retailers of electronic goods and mobile phones slashing prices on some items by more than 60 per cent.
However, stalls selling greetings cards and fireworks, are yet to come up in the city
Mohammed Kabir (28) a sales person at a well known toy shop said that, this year games such as Lego, Furby, Disney’s Frozen range and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had sold out even before the festive hype.
"Technology and gaming lead the trends, while toys inspired by popular animation blockbusters continue to be popular among customers.
Branch manager of a clothing outlet in Kollupitiya, R.Nawaz (41) told the Sunday Times that compared to previous years customer growth was slow, due to the high cost of living and price increase in markets.
“Last year we also had many Arab and Maldivian tourists shopping at our outlets, but this year, their presence is less,” he said. However, on a positive note he said they expect business to pick up within the next few days.
A sales executive of a wristwatch sales outlet Asela Ruwan Kumar (21) however said, although at the start of the seasonal shopping the response was not that great things have picked up now. " I believe Christmas shopping is much better than in previous years," he said.
Many customers come to his shop because of the choice of imported items. However, he said the taxes on imported items have forced them to increase the prices and customers complain about the jacked up prices.
Nilanthi Chandramala, a sales person at a garment store in Bambalapitiya told the Sunday Times she noticed people buying much less compared to previous years. “I have been in the store for three years and noticed this time people buying a lesser number of items. Usually the store is crowded in the final week before Christmas, but not this time." Customers say even though there is a wide- range of choice they are unable to spend as much as they would have liked to because of the high cost of living.
I only buy a few gifts and cards for friends and family said Melissa Perera (26) from Nugegoda. Although Minoli Karunarathne (35) from Rathmalana declared that, “Christmas is good so far. Goods are expensive but no problem. I have come to buy new decorations." She did complain that the increased taxes on imported items have put a dampener on the season as Christmas festivities involve alot of baking using imported goods.
Meanwhile to facilitate travelling during the season more than 200 buses will be deployed in Kandy, Kurunegala, Jaffna and Hatton. “We will also launch shuttle services from the Pettah central bus stand