Bumper Boxing Day for Napier retailers

Napier was swamped with shoppers yesterday, keen to make the most of Boxing Day sales. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR.

Hawke's Bay retailers received a boost in sales yesterday, as residents combed stores for the best Boxing Day bargains.

Yesterday people flocked to shopping hubs, flooding the streets, crowding stores, and creating delays due to demand at cafes.

While the lure of Boxing Day shoppers was not enough for some Napier stores, and cafes to open their doors on the public holiday, most embraced the influx of shoppers.

Napier resident Gina Glass was one who ventured from store to store, keen to make the most of sales on clothing, electronics, and sporting goods.

If she stayed in the region for Christmas, Ms Glass said she usually spent Boxing Day combing the stores for the best deals, noting "all the sales have been pretty good today".

She also tried to make the most of discounts for "IOU" Christmas gifts.

Napier resident Andrew Boyd and his family were also out enjoying the sales, particularly at clothing stores.

Hitting the Boxing Day sales was not an annual event, but depended on whether his children received vouchers for Christmas, Mr Boyd said.

Stores along Emmerson St were flooded with keen shoppers, such as stationery store Smiggle.

Smiggle's manager, Georgia, said although yesterday was quiet to start with "we've been really busy from about 9.30am". She credited this to the number of sales the store had on.

Other retailers spoken to by Hawke's Bay Today said while the lead-up to Christmas might have been quieter than usual, yesterday was as busy a Boxing Day as any.

Cotton On Kids retail assistant Anne Penitito said business had been slow last week, but with the store's Boxing Day markdowns, meaning some products were less than half price, staff were run off their feet.

Hastings City Business Association general manager Susan McDade said Hastings CBD had been very busy yesterday, especially the big box stores such as Kmart.

Carparks around Hastings were packed as shoppers tried to find the best deals.

While some stores did not have Boxing Day sales, customers were still able to get great deals through discounts as stores tried to clear Christmas stock.

Although Ms McDade had not yet received any figures for yesterday, based on how busy stores had been, and growth in the economy this year, she thought it would have been bigger than last year.

In the lead-up to Christmas, Hawke's Bay as a region had one of the highest levels of growth in expenditure, compared to the same time last year.

Paymark, which processes 75 per cent of electronic transactions, said figures showed Hawke's Bay spending was 11.1 per cent up on the same period last year to $118.7 million. The New Zealand increase was 7 per cent.