Bargain hunters flock in for sales

• Author: Karina Cooper
• Published date: 27 December 2022
• Publication title: Northern Advocate, The (Whangarei, New Zealand)

Modern Collective Streetwear owner Joel Summerlee was flat out serving customers in his Okara Park store. He had started work at 6am, stocking the shelves ahead of the boom

“The volume of product we’ve been having to move is scary.”

While not as busy as previous Boxing Days, it was still the centrepiece of the shopping calendar.

“We’re trading down on the last couple of years,” Summerlee said. “But it’s the biggest day of the year for us,” he said.

Research from PriceSpy released earlier this month showed 60 per cent of Kiwis surveyed by British market research group 3Gem planned to shop on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day this year.

Summerlee, who owns multiple stores across Northland and has been in business for 12 years, said retailers used the festive season to “make hay while the sun shines” as sales tended to peter out in January.

Retail spending in the lead-up to Christmas had nudged ahead of last year’s levels.

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