Up to late on Wednesday evening city traders were still awaiting the anticipated wave of Christmas shoppers which, many of them concede, has failed to materialize.
Of the nine retail traders on Robb, Regent and Water streets with whom this newspaper spoke during the trading day on Wednesday, six conceded that sales during the first two days of the final full week of shopping before Christmas were less than same period last year. Asked whether they felt the announcement that the country was likely to go to the polls next year might have had the effect of curtailing consumer spending, only three thought that might be the case. All of them, however, said they were banking on a later surge in sales than last year. “I believe that we will see heavier spending next week, right up to Christmas Eve,” a Water Street retailer offering mostly household appliances and gift items told this newspaper.
It was not that the streets and pavements were not more crowded than one would expect late in the day in the middle of the week. The numbers, however, did not appear to correspond with the volume of actual trading that was in evidence. On the pavements people appeared to be mostly drifting by the vendors shouting their bargains whilst beckoning to the heaps of goods on crowded stalls. Inside the Regent Street stores offering clothing and household items, proprietors and employees appeared to be
