SA stays, shops at home

Bloemfontein - The money that those staying at home are saving by not enjoying a seaside Christmas holiday is finding its way to the cash registers of the Free State and Northern Cape.

Mall managers are seeing more visitors than at the same time last year. Some national chains say their Free State branches are doing particularly well compared with the rest of the country. And then people seem to be giving themselves presents this year, adding luxuries to their homes.

The trend being observed, says Leon Klopper, co-director of the Kloppers retail group, is that customers are buying things for their homes with the money saved by not going away.

Kloppers is experiencing an increase in the sales of products like air-conditioners and other household appliances.

Cameras appear to be a particularly popular purchase, as well as home theatres and plasma television screens.

The Loch Logan Waterfront in Bloemfontein has experienced outstanding growth over the year but December, in particular, is busier than previously, observes Meryl Henning, the centre's marketing consultant.

She says some of the shopping centre's anchor tenants report that their Bloemfontein branches are among the best performers in the country.

Bloemfontein customers are spending money on home entertainment and digital equipment. Games and even items like billiard tables are selling well.

In Kimberley, too, where the first six months of this year were particularly quiet, merchants were trading more briskly by the second half of November.

Benita Valkenborg, manager of the Diamond Pavilion Mall in Kimberley, says there were 3 000 or 10% more visitors to the centre in the past week than in the corresponding period last year.

On the holiday on Wednesday, Welkom's Liberty Centre was filled to capacity with people mainly doing Christmas shopping, reports the centre's manager, Norma Venter.

- Sake24.com

For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.