Big discounts draw the spending crowd

Western Bay shoppers rushed to the traditional Boxing Day sales yesterday. The unusually heavy discounting by national retailers did the trick.
Items ranging from flat screen TVs, furniture to jewellery and DVDs were reduced by as much as 20 to 50 per cent.
Some clothing and homeware stores even went as low as a 60 per cent discount.
Customers streamed through the shop doors at the main shopping centres as soon as they opened in the morning and by the end of the busy day retailers reported that business would be equal to last year - if not slightly better.
"With all the sales pre-Christmas, I wondered what would happen to Boxing Day," said Marie Mischewski, Fraser Cove Shopping Centre manager. "But the carpark is packed and Boxing Day is full on.
"The thing that blows me away is that people still have a dollar to spend. It's all about deals, and people will respond to discounts and specials."
Kmart in the Bayfair Mall was the first to open at 7am and people were waiting to spend.
"It's been very, very steady all day long; it hasn't died down at all," said duty manager Kaye Perry.
"Everyone has a sale on Boxing Day and that's what gets people out. They like to see what is cheap and grab it. Everything has been going out the door but especially a lot of clothing and shoes."
Two of the shoppers at Bayfair were Nicole Ririnui, of Ohauiti, and her sister Jody, on holiday from Auckland. They were loaded up with chocolates, reduced by 50 per cent, biscuits, and clothes and toys for Nicole's son Elijah.
"I was pushed and shoved a couple of times by people trying to grab things in front of me," said Jody, a beauty therapist.
"We got here just after 9am to get a car park and beat the rush and it was already filling up then."
Jody found jandals in Kmart for $2 that would normally cost her $30 in a surf shop.
"People were going crazy over them and they were flying out the door," she said.
On the other side of the city, department store Smiths City was having a good time of it.
A spokesman said he was surprised that trading had been strong, considering people had been spending steadily up to Christmas.
"We've even sold big ticket items - TVs, furniture and appliances. People seem to be attuned to discounts of 20-30 per cent and they still want to spend."
Bayfair marketing manager Nina Rivett said it was likely the mall would reach its peak pedestrian flow of 30,000 people in one day.
"We reached that on Boxing Day last year and we opened an hour earlier this time - just in case people wanted to shop early and head for the beach. It was quite bustling and 1800 came through before 9am," she said.
The best day before Christmas Day was on December 23 when 26,000 people visited Bayfair. The foot traffic dropped to 25,000 on Christmas Eve.
"Because there was so many sales on before Christmas, there was a question whether we would have a traditional Boxing Day but the national brands got into discounting mode," Ms Rivett said.
Michael Hill Jeweller had a 50 per cent sale, Farmers was discounting 20-50 per cent on some items, and JB Hi-Fi, a newcomer to the Bay, had 30 per cent off every CD and DVD in the store, including Blu-Ray.
JB Hi-Fi called it "End of Year Madness". It might have been but it brought the shoppers in and retailers were smiling, after a tough year when spending never really increased because of a sluggish economic recovery.