duncanriley.com - Latest Comments in Bleak Shopping Christmas

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

Martin Neumann — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:21:30 -0000

As a Chaddy regular (coffee and the library ... I mean Borders ;-) is my oasis while the wife and 7y.o daughter shop) my guesstimate is that it's about 30% down from the last few years. Still busy, but not like it was 2-3 years ago (aka: utter mayhem).

I'm wondering how the New Year sales will pan out - personally, I'm waiting for that time to buy a 126" Plasma TV - the best buys are always after Xmas and the New Year.

BTW, Merry Christmas, Duncan - am I still allowed to say that? ;-) or have we finally beaten the PC tools down...

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

Unterkunft Berlin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:52:06 -0000

I did my Christmas shopping early to avoid holiday rush. Just like you, I also can't stand crowds. That's why I usually shop in the morning to avoid crowded malls.

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

Cheyne — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:29:23 -0000

Completely agree Duncan - I have been to most of the major shopping centers in Melbourne over the past week, and have had zero issue finding a free car space. Very unusual, and I am certain that shopping $$ will be down significantly this year.

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

Organic — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:19:47 -0000

I hate the crowds too so do most of my shopping online but thankfully I don't do the Christmas 'thing'.

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

Sueblimely — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:16:57 -0000

Isn't the new light system in the Doncaster carpark fantastic! I was surprised at how many free spots there were during the day last week and assumed it was partly because of the increased number of spaces there.

Judging by the huge number of cars in the carpark at K Mart Burwood at midnight last night maybe people are looking for cheaper options this year?

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

scotty — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:06:30 -0000

That also depends on how many are going there for windows shopping :)

Dunno. I went to two Westfields over here in Sydney (Hurstville & East Gardens) on Saturday, and did not end up getting anything (but our usual weekly groceries). The crowd-ness is definitely less than last year. Maybe we got hit harder than Melbourne.

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

MattyT — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:54:20 -0000

I've been shopping at Doncaster and it's been chaotic.

They've installed a car park monitoring system that allows you to see which car spaces are available (red/green LED) and they also count the total free spaces. Last week I arrived on a Sunday at about 10:30 am and the count was just toggling from zero to one. After 20 minutes of following other cars around I gave up...

So, I'm not seeing an obvious purse-tightening...yet.

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

skribe — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:46:41 -0000

On Friday Perth was the usual chaos during the day, but by 6pm was as quiet as a mouse.

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

Mike — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:05:33 -0000

Can easily find parking at Chadstone? Times must be tough. Just discovered dstore.com.au accepts PP.

Re: Bleak Shopping Christmas

Peter — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:47:59 -0000

Well, I gotta say I'm not seeing it in WA. I went shopping with my sister to help her buy new tv yesterday, and while waiting as dispatch to pick he 42" plasma, two 60" lcd tv's, one 50" and one 42" went out the door, this was in a period of 15 minutes. So if the country is going to go in the crapper, at least we'll all have hi def tv's to watch it.

also went to a westfield (carousel) and it was the usual Christmas madness.