Northlanders turn out for Boxing Day sales

Wes Mulder leaves with boxes on his Boxing Day shopping spree at The Warehouse. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A Northland business leader hopes fine weather continues to entice shoppers out in search of bargains which will keep the tills ringing across the region.

An influx of out-of-towners into Whangarei yesterday created shopping and parking chaos in central Whangarei as well as at Okara Shopping Centre as Boxing Day sales kicked in.

Some retailers offered heavily discounted or even half-priced items to lure shoppers.

Manager of The Strand Merv Williams said retail spending, particularly for small business owners, was crucial at this time considering sales were pretty flat for most of the year.

"For a large part of the year the shops are just existing but they rely on trading at this time of the year to make some money. Visitors to Whangarei or Northland certainly help in terms of sales," Mr Williams said.

"I pray to the weather gods the fine spell stays and visitors to stay around a little longer."

At Okara Shopping Centre, motorists struggled to find parking spaces around midday yesterday to mostly shop at chain stores The Warehouse, Rebel Sports and Briscoes.

Rodney Beardsell came from Russell with his chihuahua, Darling, to shop at The Warehouse before he planned to attend a 75th birthday party at Whakapara last night.

"Everything's going cheap, even at half price. The hardest part is getting somewhere to park. Everybody's here except the farm cattle," Mr Beardsell said.

He usually shopped for Christmas presents in Whangarei on Boxing Day and said he grabbed almost everything on special.

Industrial engineer Wes Mulder and wife Jia said they had to come to The Warehouse to buy a stack of plastic containers rather than purchase online, which they normally did.

"We shop online to avoid the crowd and parking chaos, especially with two kids but for some things we have to come into town. It's pretty chaotic today," Mr Mulder said.

Whangarei mother Rachel Brooke took her two children to Rebel Sports to redeem their Boxing Day vouchers, but a long queue forced them to turn around.

They plan to redeem the vouchers when the festive season is over.

"It's a mission battling crowds but this is a good time for shopping as kids get vouchers from nannas and poppas. There's a lot of people out and about," she said.