Shoppers throng to Boxing Day sales

Thousands of shoppers across the nation showed their enthusiasm for Boxing Day
sales, with some queueing from 11pm on Christmas night to snap up a bargain.

Major stores reported healthy crowds, with shoppers well on the way to spending a
projected tally of $14 billion in the sale period, according to the Australian
National Retailers Association (ANRA).
In Melbourne, Myer had 1000 people waiting outside when it opened its doors at 5am
on Boxing Day, said spokesman Damian Glass.
By late afternoon, it was still shoulder to shoulder in the aisles as people grabbed
bargains in clothes, manchester, electronic equipment and homewares.
While this was just the start of a month-long sale, store bosses were pleased.
"Consumers are still very enthusiastic about a bargain and trying to get one," Mr
Glass said.
Cricketing WAGs (wives and girlfriends) Lara Bingle and Rianna Ponting rang the bell
to mark the opening of the David Jones Melbourne store at 6am (AEDT).
Former and current swimming stars Ian Thorpe and Stephanie Rice did the honours in
Sydney.
David Jones' Victorian manager Jason McVicar said he arrived at the city store at
4am and found nearly 1000 people already there waiting for it to open.
One woman had been queuing since midnight.
"We have had massive crowds this morning, more than ever before, and it is a fun and
festive feel," he said.
"We are pretty cautiously optimistic. There has been a build in consumer confidence
in the last few weeks, more than last year, and we think that confidence will
continue."
In Sydney, it was elbow room only as shoppers braved crowds and wet weather to seek
bargains at the Myer and David Jones department stores, which opened at 5am and 6am
(AEDT), respectively.
Keen customers started lining up as early as 11pm on Christmas night, with the
number of shoppers expected to peak around 1pm.
In Brisbane, Myer appeared to be the focus of bargain hunters in the Queen St Mall.
Economic modelling by Access Economics for ANRA predicts Australians will part with
close to $14.7 billion during the post Christmas sales, a slight increase on last
year's $14.2 billion over the Boxing Day and New Year period.
Margy Osmond, the chief executive of ANRA, which represents major retailers
including Harvey Norman and David Jones, said shoppers have delayed their big-ticket
purchases to save the most money.
Purchases of LCD and plasma televisions, other home electronics, manchester and
women's fashion led sales, but it was too early to tell how sales figures will shape
up.
"I can say though that they've been extremely healthy," she told reporters in Sydney.
"The state of the Aussie dollar means that retailers can keep those prices low."
But Australia's biggest shopping day is not necessarily a guide to what will happen
in 2010.
Ms Osmond said the first quarter of any calendar year was always the worst for retail.
"And we will be going into that period on the back of three interest rate
increases," she said.
"So it could be a fairly funky year for retail in 2010, and we're not projecting a
very high level of growth in the coming year."