Queueing for an hour? It must be Christmas!
SUPERMARKETS across Wales were heaving yesterday as people stocked up on last-minute Christmas essentials.
For many, it was crunch time as the heavy discounting and sales that have been previously seen in the last few days before Christmas failed to materialise.
People reported long queues stretching down aisles from as early as 6am.
Mike Wyn Davies described Tesco in Talbot Green, Rhondda Cynon Taf, as “absolute madness”. He estimated that customers were waiting an hour at checkouts.
Other shoppers were spotted queuing outside Marks & Spencer in Fforestfach, Swansea, just before 7am waiting for the shop to open.
M&S in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff, was “crazy busy” at 9.30am with queues stretching right back to the doors.
Customer Michael Phillips said: “When I got in at 9am, you couldn’t move around by the tills. I’m taking pictures to send to my wife at home to show how busy it is.”
Another customer claimed the same store was “bonkers”.
Shopper Sharon Rees said: “We didn’t expect it to be this busy. We thought the rush would be over. When we come here on a Saturday morning to do our shopping you can usually go straight to a till. We have been here since just after 9am, me and my daughter have been taking it in turns standing in the queue while the other goes and gets our stuff to put in the trolley.”
The high street saw sales and footfall increase significantly over the weekend, said Charles Bevan-Barrett, the manager at Cardiff ’s Capitol shopping centre.
“It has generally felt busy throughout December,” he said. “This year, we noticed the car parks started filling up a lot earlier in the day, and people started their Christmas shopping earlier too. We found the car parks were full by 10.30am for most of November and December so people are certainly coming out earlier in the day to do their shopping.”
“The last weekend before Christmas was a mad rush,” he added. “Monday morning initially started very quiet however, compared to the weekend.”
People may have been holding off doing their final big shop, waiting for a wave of discounting before the big day, But according to consumer expert Henry Enos, the discounts offered by the big names haven’t arrived as they have in previous years.
Mr Enos said that despite consumer confidence generally being lower throughout 2019 due to uncertainties around Brexit and the UK economy, it was still “hard to predict” this Christmas.
He said: “Consumer confidence seems to be reasonable and the high street is performing okay. So far, unlike previous years, the big names haven’t been discounting in the lead up to Christmas.”
He said that after a year of holding back, many people might “treat themselves” over the festive period. So far, consumers were making a “considered spend”, he said.
“It’s been steady, but not massive. People still treat themselves to branded goods at Christmas time, whether that be their individual toy purchases or their food shop. Although people haven’t been as confident because of not knowing what the economy is going to do, that hasn’t always been translated consistently on the high street. It goes one of two ways. We could see people move towards spending more at Christmas time.”
He thinks there could be a “long drawn-out” protracted sales period after Christmas and warned it was the “middle” retailers who might struggle in the new year.
“Since the start of the uncertainty, people have been a little more reserved,” Mr Enos said. “The topend chains are doing well, and the bottom end are too. It’s the middle ground which has to work it out and might struggle. I would certainly be keeping an eye on the likes of Debenhams and Morrisons next year.”
Shoppers in the M&S branch in Swansea said staff were informing customers there was a 50-minute queue time.
Tesco Extra in Culverhouse Cross was also heaving, with huge queues at all the tills.
A shopper at Aldi, Talbot Green, said there were “hundreds” of people at the store door for opening at 8am.
He said: “All six tills are open and all have enormous queues. People are basically ramming each other around the store to get what they want.”
Meanwhile, Asda in Leckwith, Cardiff, was quiet at 8.35am.
“When we opened at 5am there were queues outside the door and then huge queues at the tills too,” said one employee. “It’s quietened down a bit now.”
Cardiff city centre was also busy, with shoppers picking up last-minute presents.
Elsewhere in Wales, traders were reporting a “robust trade” and said people were taking longer to make their Christmas purchases.
Russell Greenslade, chief executive of Swansea’s Business Improvement District, said: “We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from businesses in the city centre, with many retailers reporting robust trade in the build up to Christmas, and shoppers’ dwell time up 5.5% year on year.”