CHRISTMAS TRADE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 December 1941, Page 2

CHRISTMAS TRADE

MASTERTON RETAILERS WELL SATISFIED LAST YEAR’S FIGURES REACHED OR EXCEEDED. BETTER THAN ANTICIPATED. Masterton retailers report good Christmas trade, in some cases even better than that recorded last year. Generally, they appear to be well satisfied, the sales in most instances exceeding expectations.

“Every week in December was better than the same periods of last year,” said the manager of a department store, “and the same State of affairs seemed to be pretty general throughout all branches.” He observed that this year purchases were fairly well spread over the whole of December. “I was very agreeably surprised,” said another Masterton retailer, who reported Christmas trade to be well up to last year’s receipts. “I have nothing to growl about yet,” he added. He went on to observe that the buying seemed to be spread over a longer period this year. The Friday before Christmas was just like Christmas Eve. This, he said, might be attributed to the petrol restrictions, as people would probably take the opportunity of making their purchases when in town, instead of coming in again for that purpose. The ‘cash takings were, if anything, slightly better than last year’s receipts, in spite of many fancy and novelty lines being unprocurable. Some of the older stocks were being sold, and much of this could not be replaced. Other retailers reported similarly that Christmas trade was about equal to or slightly better than that recorded last year. It was pointed out that the higher prices for some goods would contribute to the total receipts being maintained.