The Black family shop in Rotorua Central Mall, (from left) Katy Black, Lennox Black-Pyaguy, 9, Marina Black, Kamilah Black-Pyaguy, 7, Wendy Black and Andrew Black. Photo / Ben Fraser
The Black family shop in Rotorua Central Mall, (from left) Katy Black, Lennox Black-Pyaguy, 9, Marina Black, Kamilah Black-Pyaguy, 7, Wendy Black and Andrew Black. Photo / Ben Fraser
Rotorua retailers are bracing themselves for a Boxing Day shopping storm after surviving yet another hectic Christmas rush.
Today is one of the busiest days of the year for local retailers as many locals and visitors head indoors to find themselves a bargain in the annual sales and take refugefrom the odd shower.
Retail chain Kmart is expecting Boxing Day to be the busiest of the year.
The chain opened in Rotorua this year so has just experienced its first Christmas season in Rotorua.
A spokesperson said they were pleased by the response of the community confirming Rotorua was a great location for a store.
Paymark figures show Kiwis were in the mood to shop in the lead-up to Christmas.
The figures show last weekend there were 182 transactions per second nationwide.
Paymark's Paul Brislen said this was a new record for the peak number of transactions seen on the electronic payment network and marked Saturday as the busiest period of the year.
"That's up from the previous peak of 177 per second around the same time last year.
"Typically we see around 60 to 70 transactions per second so it's a significant leap up for the Christmas peak."
He said overall spending in December was on track to hit $5 billion for the month once Christmas Eve shopping was included.
In the past weekend, Kiwis spent a total of $130.5 million on the food and liquor category with people in the Bay of Plenty spending more than $30m on everything excluding fuel.
Christmas shoppers at the mall. Photo / File
However, locally owned retailer McLeods Booksellers has decided to have an extended break as the shop cannot afford to offer low prices like the big retail chains.
Manager Jemma Pirrie said from the beginning of the month the store had been busier than last year.
"In the last week it has been particularly manic but it is very encouraging because, obviously, people are still into books."
