Christmas Presents

Evening Star, Issue 20053, 19 December 1928, Page 5

Christmas Presents

WIDE RANGE DF GIFTS PRICES TO SUIT ALL POCKETS RETAILERS REPORT BUSY TRADE To tho regret of the retailers and the .recipients of presents, Christmas comes but once a year, and in tho week immediately previous to Christmas an orgy of spending is indulged in. From the beginning of tho month tho Christmas shopping has been gaining momentum, and this week tho shops are having an exceedingly busy time. Tho purchasers, too, arc more or less enjoying themselves in tho crowded shops. Their tasks are made much lighter this year by the exceptional range of article on display, with prices, if anything, a shade cheaper than last year’s prices. The days of expensive presents have gone, and the public now want something small, cheap, serviceable, and of quality. In every branch of the retail trade, their wants are being met, tho gifts being choice in design, _ reasonable in price, and utilitarian in character. The Christmas rush has set in unraistakeably. More attention has been paid to the advice “Shop early and avoid tho rush” this year, as throughout the month tho shops have been recording unprecedented business for a period so far ahead of the festive season. The wet weather of last week rather dampened trade, but with tbo return of warm days there has been a quickening of business. Following on a prolonged period of pronounced depression, the shops are welcoming tho rush, particularly as so far as the receipts have generally shown an all-round increase on those registered for the corresponding month last year. During tho winter the shops were slack, and in the community there was a feeling of uneasiness over the immediate future. Consequently, tho public did not spend their money, and their views on the economic situation were reflected in the decreased turnover in tho shops. In Dunedin, unemployment was not so serious during tho winter as in the previous years, and wages were maintained. Yet the public did spend liberally, buying mostly only the necessaries of life, the bread end butter lines. Although many of the big shops had cause to bo careful in their stocking, the managers generally accepted the holding off of tho public buying as a tribute to the wealth of the community, in that if tho public were not clothed suitably and neatly money would have necessarily to bo spent. The purse strings, however, arc now being loosened. Following on the war, the English top manufacturers almost captured the market, their chief competitors being the Japanese. Fierce competition has now been established again by the Continental manufacturers, and only a small quantity of British toys aye to be found in tho shops. There is a wonderful range of toys, better than ever seen in the dominion, and in many of the lines the prices are very low. Dolls are apparently as popular as ever with little maids, as all tho shops arc carrying extensive stocks, and tho best selling lino is marked about ]Os. The double-jointed and “erving” dolls ar© remarkably cheap. Scooters have come into their own again; few were sold last year. Tricycles continue to bo in demand, although their price is rather above tho average'parent’s means. Train sets and rails arc cheaper than they have ever been. One big store has entirely stocked its toy department! with Continental (roods, on tho grounds that they arc cheaper, of better quality, and allow of a greater choice. A novelty is the much-discussed spinning top, now all the rage in Europe. It is a clover toy, built for hard work for boys. Mechanical tovs such as acrobats who turn backwards and dancing coon's, provide a wido selection, and among the clever toys are trams. When the trams stop at spaced intervals, the doors open and a bell rings. Tbo motor cars are solidly built, and are electrically lighted from a small battery. A small boys or girl who is taken in to seo these toys will be a very peeved youngster if bis or her parent does not purchase a parcel. The balloons, too, are novel, both in their colouring and shapes. In the big drapery shops tho assistants are working from the opening ot the doors in tho morning until _ some time after the doors aro closed in the evening. With so many people preparino- to leave tho city for the holiday resorts new outfits are required, and this is tho time when money seems to be a secondary consideration to personal appearance". The ladies who make their own summer dresses are buying large quantities of the latest matoiial, artificial silk, in which the designs aro most attractive Tho present-purchasers in the drapery shop's will have their problems easily solved. Handkerchiefs always make acceptable gifts, and the gilts have been “ made up ” and displayed in nice styles this season. “ Hankabaskets is tho trade name for one highly popular line, tho handkerchiefs forming a basket of fruit or flowers. Other handkerchiefs are made up as dresses for dolls. Bath salts are' reasonably priced, and can bo purchased in boxes of small packets to half-gallon jars with glass tops. Perfumes are also attractive. The feature of the toilet lines is their containers, which are ornate and serviceable and can be converted to various uses on tho dressing table later.

Handbags of the more expensive styles are selling more extensively this year, and toilet table ware is meeting with ready sale. The ladies are switching over from the white to the coloured xylonite ware. Powder puffs are cheap and acceptable ( and, moreover, they are quaintly designed. Another small type of gift is the sewing books, and the drapers report that with the outfits women are also buying the mending plaits of silk and wool, a new way of purchasing darning material. For men gilts do not show many changes. Tie presses are perhaps one of the most distributed presents this season. The tie, handkerchief, sox, and suspender combination sets are selling in Hugo quantities. A novelty for men is a tobacco pouch containing three handkerchiefs, which makes an appeal also because of its reasonable price. In the fancy good shops shaving outfits are reported to bo selling well, hut tobacco pouches are almost a “dead” line. Fountain pens and smokers’ outfits are in demand. “ Give books ” lias been the slogan of tho booksellers, and to meet the demand they are carrying large stocks of the latest best-sellers, popular biographies, travel books, and richly-bound volumes of poems. Bigger stocks of presentation books for children have been opened out. it being noticeable that many children now prefer books to toys. The jewellers look forward yearly to a return of buying of more expensive jewellery, but again this year their sales are mostly confined to the smaller trinkets.