I think this year is going to be very very tight if todays Boxing Days sales are anything to go by.

Prepare for grimness!

 

Also had a look around the shops and it did seem very quiet.

 

But while there moonlight
and music and love and romance
Lets play the music and dance....

 

As it is a four-day holiday, then perhaps people are waiting until tomorrow/Tuesday? I certainly didn't want to venture out today and anyway would probably do so online rather than in the shops.

Steve

 

boxst, i'm with you on the whole not bothering today, unfortunately the mass public are savages and are generally happy to get up on a sunday morning and arrive into town at rediculous o'clock to buy a TV with a tenner off it, Debenhams used to prove this with their seriously mad opening hours and sales on years gone past. This year they just weren't.

Even Christmas was a disaster and people who work in retail are only kidding themselves on blaming it on the weather as I do believe this was only a small factor in how poor sales have been.

Jan/Feb will see alot of job loses.

 

Maybe people are realising that the "sales" at nearly every shop are not real?

 

I can only imagine how revolting the Trafford Centre was today, the thought of sharing it with thousands of people 24 hours after a roast dinner, farting with impunity didn't fill me with joy, there is nothing I want that would motivate me to go rooting round there, busy or not.

Reports were that trading was good due to the imminent VAT rise, must be terrible having to have a whole day off shopping, no wonder people are desperate to go shopping....

 

I do think the weather has had at least some influence on poor sales.

Our town was pretty dead during the worst of the weather and we didn't even have it that bad. My wife owns a hair salon and it was faily quiet on the "walk in" side of things. Only a few appointments were cancelled because of the weather.

A client of ours runs a small time and trinket shop and he said the weather had a big influence on his sales figures. The problem is those losses are never regained and are carried through to the next year.

VAT increase together with the shocking increases in fuel and the growing rumblings that interest rates are going to have to begin rising earlier than expected are all going to factor into just how good/bad 2011 is going to be. Personally I was in the "deflation" camp for 4th Q 2011 but I think I may have been wrong.

 

It a bit weird this year with boxing day on a sunday IYSWIM, we had this chat over the turkey and wren't actually sure which days would be the official big day to rush to the sales. And anyway as above, very rarely is there a true bargain these days. Quick check on google reveals whats on offer is either discontinued (or soon to be), substandard spec (for example Curry's "own unique model" Panansonic Viera TVs ), or can be had cheaper online. The weather is just another nail in the coffin

Christmas is all about selling whatever you can at an inflated price before the big day, and Boxing day is about flogging what you didn't manage to sell. Well that WAS the theory, until "sale or return", internet shopping, clearance shops and discontinued/old stock starts getting into the mix.

I've suffered the fall out from this; Some people may remember my mum bought me an stupidly expensive (and ugly) watch last year as a gift. Well, turns out it was soon-to-be discontinued, after new year to precise (January sales etc.). Guess what? In the Christmas/NY sales it was in the window for 35% off the retail price displayed before Christmas day. For whatever reason (never managed to get the whole story) the watch didn't make it back for a full refund (not sure if the retailer played up or what the hell my mum was playing at, maybe she thought it could be sold for a profit )...Despite it never been worn, secondhand watch dealers won't touch it or offer a pittance (seems if its not Tag/Omega/Rolex/JLC/Patek etc. they aren't interested). And its been on ebay a few times not even getting a single bid...despite being offered for half its RRP. Granted its a bit ugly - it not a sports watch, nor a dress watch, but something inbetween, and not really a "fashionable" brand either but someone must like it (maybe thats why its discontinued?).

Thats a lesson in life; don't buy expensive s**t for Christmas gifts - not without research/expert advice at least thats NOT from a salesman. And more importantly, don't buy a watch thinking its an "investment". If it aint a Patek or JLC or "in demand" Rolex (not to be confused with common or less desired models), its value drops like a bomb as soon as you walk out the dealer's door. Especially Raymond Weil's Parsifal (so it seems).

The thought of the money wasted makes me sick to the core - especially when most of it served the Swiss's economy and not the UK's. All for a bit of polished metal (not even any gold plating or precious metals to justify its ludicrous RRP, or sale price). I have a similar issue with supporting the Chinese economy, although that is almost impossible to escape.

That said, buy something if you really need it. Reaseach it (is its replacement going to be better? ), get expert advice from somone who isn't a salesman or Walter Mitty (if possible) then buy it, and if you can get it cheaper ....well thats a bonus.





Now, my good man, will my V+ remote control the volume on a Onkyo AV SR508 reciever?

 

Well we have had our Xmas day today as we collected our son from his moms, its the usual every year thing we do so the only time we leave the house today is to collect him. Tomorrow however my missus and daughter are going to the town centre to go shopping..good luck to them as all I will be is the taxi service too and from, then it will be me and my son playing online COD lol....

 

Was in town today getting remotes for my sons wii (Aberdeen) was totally mobbed so did a smash and grab bought them and got the **** outta there

 

There are reports of record breaking shopping, even though as a Sunday shops were only open for six hours.

Selfridges had their busiest ever hour this afternoon.

 

Why the hell anyone would want to go out shopping on Boxing day is beyond me.

Chip

 

My sister went today (who loves shopping) and said all the sale items were the crap that didn't sell (ie nobody wanted) before Christmas.

I went last year and noticed the same.... hence why i didn't bother this year.

 

or they have done the Standard Tesco trick of jacking the price up for a month before Christmas so they can put it back down to normal and claim a big reduction

 

Exactly.

Anyhow, we got a bit drunk and stayed up way too late to go out shopping today (well yesterday now) even if we had wanted to.

Tbh, and maybe this is partly because I work in retail, I like to just enjoy Christmas day/boxing day away from shops. I've endured a week of madness in the run up, it's nice to have a break.

 

Do the Googling and you can get anything you want at better prices the whole year 'round. Every time I've considered buying anything in the sales more than a pair of half price shoes I've usually found it was cheaper 3 months before. Looked at a sofa last year and in October it had been £950, in the NY sale it was reduced to £1350 As for the experience, having seen people crammed on escalators and barging about on the news footage, I'd rather be at home with a glass of Bailey's watching a movie

 

You derserve a good break as much as the rest of us.

Same goes for Easter, shops were always shut , now they have to open . Why?

Chip

 

Agreed. Russell and Bromley (shoe shop) are hilarious during the sales. They bring out shoes from the 1970s that were never in the shop during the rest of the year. The current stuff all remains at full price.

As for electronic stuff I don't think people shop around and bargain hard enough during the rest of the year. Over the last few years I've bought quite alot of AV gear and have always haggled hard and got anywhere from 20 to 50% off.
It requires doing your homework but I think its far easier to get a discount when its just you and the manager in the store on a wet weekday afternoon than at the formal sales.

 

+1

The Mrs went and had a nosey as she had some vouchers to spend but came back empty handed saying it was all the crap they couldnt sell throughout the year that they had clearly just bought down from upstairs

 

You deserve a good slap for that one
I've got to go out today, the whole family has been ill with that flu bug and there is about 2 sheets of loo roll left in the whole house

 

+1


What is wrong with people? They need to get a life!

 

Greed probably.

One good thing (for us workers) at my place is, we close Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Day and Easter Sunday, so at least we still do get a few days guaranteed away during holidays. I wouldn't be surprised if that changes though, and you wouldn't believe how many complain about us closing for a whole 4 days out of a year.

Thank you for not being one of those, and understanding we need a break too. I have taken this week off just so I don't have to be around mad people buying for the sake of it. A bit like they were on Christmas Eve, as our sale started then...I was glad when the day was over.

 

Most of the stuff on sale you can get anytime during the year for similar prices with a bit of searching around. I think some people are just wired to go shopping for tat they don't want or need purely because there are signs in the windows that say 'sale'

 

Its this capitalistic approach to retail that really puts me off.

Its why I'm bit of a communist at heart, I hate both extremes of capitalism and communism; And extreme of both ideologies don't work anyway (as well as extremes of socialism, anarchism etc). And I do feel in this age the UK is far far far too interested in extreme capitalism under the veiled mask of socialism as an excuse for it, Labour in theory should have been against it, but in their thirteen years they just perpetuated it even further until we are all verging on breaking point.

We currently have a two their system with those that don't need to do anything and live and are well supported, and those that have to work til they drop to make ends meet; Pseudo-democratic-Socialism at its best.

 

You refer to those who "dont need to do anything" etc... are you refering to the rich upper class types or the "workshy scroungers"?
Wotever system we have in this country, whether it works or not, I think it's fair to say society gets everything it deserves..

 

Went out for some fresh air yesterday, only B&Q and Tesco were open.

Next, ToyRUs etc all closed.

Officially, apparently TODAY is boxing day.

 

 

Scroungers mainly. Upperclass don't "need" to do anything, but at the same time they aren't a drain, so long as they remain and invest/bank in this country and input back into the economy. That can be in many forms, be it CGT, VAT on their last shopping spree in Harrods, the road/Co2/fuel tax on their Bentley Brooklands, the chauffeur they employ to drive it etc. Those that go beyond what is acceptable in minimising tax expendature via "hiding" funds from the tax man should be culpable (Vodafone for exmple, have got away with £billions of owned tax: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ves-sour-taste ), There is nothing wrong with minimising a tax burden, but going beyond what is legally acceptable should be better enforced with greater penalty, negotiating for a vastly reduced sum post-event just reeks of the capitalistic greed this country has.

I also take issue with middle classes that claim a benefit to support their lifestyle at the expense of reducing the overall funds availabile to those on the breadline.

Scroungers just leach.

 

We went into town today to change a gift that was the wrong fit, the shopping centre was just ridiculous, you would have though Xmas was tomorrow
It was the amount of baggage that people had that was alarming, either they had lots of gifts to be exchanged or they were in buying the utter, utter ****e that had been put out for the sales.