750,000 shoppers throng Dublin city centre every day
More than three quarters of a million Christmas shoppers are due to descend on Dublin city centre every day, it emerged today.
Retailers nationwide are expecting a record festive season with trading already up on last year’s sales of €1.5bn.
Dublin City Business Association anticipates 770,000 shop visits a day in the coming weeks.
The figure includes committed Christmas shoppers as well as city centre workers popping in to stores throughout the day.
Tom Coffey, chief executive of the organisation that represents city retailers and property owners, said that historically business this coming weekend will be an indicator of the buoyancy of the market.
However, full-time employment, late night shopping and Sunday openings, are spreading the festive shoppers more evenly throughout the week.
“We are very pleased with performance so far for this season,” said Mr Coffey. “Footfall and numbers of transactions have been steadily rising since the first week in October and we anticipate that sales will be up around 7% on the same time last year.
“Saturday is still the busiest trading day of the week, followed by Thursday, and Sunday is now the third busiest trading day of the week.”
Dublin city centre boasts 4,000 shops and 10 department stores and shopping centres, collectively covering 4.5million sq ft of retail space – all within a 10 minute walk for shoppers – and employing 25,000 people.
Mr Coffey said between 15-20 years ago, December 8 was one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
“In the 1960s around 13 trains travelled to the city centre on that date, now 90 trains travel to city centre each day,” he continued.
“Now there is a larger retail market and more choice for consumers. Irish retailers in the city centre will be opening late each evening from now until Christmas Eve providing additional shopping opportunities for customers.”
