Stores supply turkeys, sprouts and... carp

SHOPS are doing a roaring Christmas trade in carp, trees cut in half, crackers made from old paper and climate-change tree lights.

Retail giant Tesco is selling the unusual Christmas wares to cater for Ireland’s modern lifestyles.

This week the chain has imported carp from eastern Europe to cater for demand from Polish workers, who prefer fish to fowl on their Christmas dinner plate.

“Apparently the Polish community has carp instead of turkey on Christmas Day, so we’ve decided to import whole fresh carp for the first year ever,” said Tesco spokesman Séamus Banim.

Priced €8.99 a kilogramme, the fish are sold whole and weigh around a kilo and are arriving in batches from Lithuania.

Tesco, which is Ireland’s largest grocer with 100 stores, is also selling Polish language DVDs as well as hit records from Poland.

At the time of last year’s Census, Poles numbered 63,250, making them the second largest group of foreigners in the State after the British, who numbered 112,500.

Tesco has also started selling “half-trees” to cater for demand from the growing number of people who live in flats. The artificial trees are divided in half vertically so they sit flush to the wall and appear whole when viewed from the front.

Shoppers are also voting with their euro to address growing concern about the environment, so sales of low-energy tree lights are up 20%. The ESB reckons 2% of electricity demand in winter evenings can be attributed to festive lights, which gobble up 100 megawatts nightly, and has appealed to householders to use low-energy lights.

The store has also noticed Christmas crackers made from recycled paper are also pulling in the punters.

But Christmas would not be Christmas without turkey or sprouts.

“Shoppers are increasingly looking for cuts like turkey crowns instead of whole birds,” said Mr Banim.

Tesco has ordered 150 tonnes of sprouts from Dublin Meath Growers in north Co Dublin.