Poor weather deters bargain hunters

BARGAIN hunters could still have some luck today after poor weather — rain taking the place of the snow — appeared to deter the masses from sales shopping in Cork.

Trade in shops on quieter side streets appeared very tame as bargain hunters restricted their movements to shopping centres and retail hubs such as Opera Lane, just off St Patrick’s Street, where endless streams paced between neighbouring fashion outlets.

After finding a hard-sought city centre parking spot, Maurice and Claire Coughlan from Monkstown were heading around to see if there were any bargains to tempt them. “It’s good to see the snow gone, at least the shops should pick up now. It was really tough on them, but hopefully they’ll pick up in the next couple of days,” Mr Coughlan said.

At the city centre Debenhams department store, footfall was on a par with this time last year, according to deputy manager Eileen Fitzgerald.

“Menswear seems to be particularly popular since we opened, we have a lot of men passing through which is a little unusual at the start of a sale,” she said. “The volume of sales on Christmas Eve was up around half on last year, probably because of the bad weather all week, and I’d say we’d have had customers up to 10pm if we stayed open.”

But many were still picking up late gifts for family and friends as the round of post-Christmas house visits continues during the week, with cosmetic sets among the fastest-moving items.

Debenhams was one of a number of retailers to begin its sale on St Stephen’s Day, as did Brown Thomas, except its Grafton Street outlet in Dublin which had to delay reopening until tomorrow after flood damage. But this did not put off hundreds from making an early trip to grab some of the best reductions.

Around Cork city, shoe shops were among those with most customers and book sales were popular.

“We already had a better Christmas than last year and we’re doing as well as could be expected today,” said Waterstones manager Kerry Breen.

For Sarah Murphy from White’s Cross, the sales are usually best avoided, but she was in TK Maxx as she looked forward to a lot more snow.

“It doesn’t seem too busy around town today. We’re going skiing on Thursday, over to Austria, so I’ve just got some gear for the trip.”