Article: Motorists driving the best bargains at this year's sales

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Motorists driving the best bargains at this year's sales

Motorists driving the best bargains at this year's sales
Deborah Gough
December 26, 2010

IF YOU had hoped to be among the first at today's Boxing Day sales, unless you drove to the city before dawn it is unlikely you would have been poised to purchase when Myer and David Jones opened their doors at 5am.

A lucky few may have joined the queue courtesy of a night bus, but no other modes of public transport would have got you there in time.

A Transport Department decision to stick to the Sunday timetable despite Boxing Day being the busiest shopping day of the year, means the earliest trams will arrive in the city today about 7.30am and trains about 8am.

That is three hours after early-bird shoppers have snapped up the best bargains at the city's department stores.

Extended trading hours saw Myer open its doors today at 5am in the Bourke Street Mall and 7am at its other branches; while the rush at David Jones started at 5am in the city and Chadstone, and at 7am elsewhere.

Due to the Sunday timetable, about 40 per cent of buses will not run today with others only once an hour.

A handful of bus lines that serve shopping centres will run to Saturday timetables.

A Transport Department spokeswoman said additional public transport services would cater for the cricket Boxing Day Test.

But, said Public Transport Users Association president, Daniel Bowen, the lean Sunday timetable was a recipe for traffic chaos at shopping centres and in the city. ''To most people, even fighting for a car space is preferable to waiting an hour for a bus,'' Mr Bowen said.

Chadstone Shopping Centre manager Daniel Sutton said it would use Twitter and Facebook to help shoppers find good parking in its 9500-space car park.

Mr Sutton said Boxing Day was the centre's biggest shopping day with 150,000 customers - double the usual number - expected today.

But if you can't be bothered circling car parks, queuing for change rooms and growing old waiting for a cashier, then David Jones' decision to extend Boxing Day bargains to online purchases may be more up your shopping aisle.

David Jones general manager of corporate communications Helen Karlis said that, for the first time, customers could buy online stock at Boxing Day discount prices.

Retailers expect an increase in spending at this year's sales.

National Retail Association executive director Gary Black said Victorians had defied a national slump in consumer spending and were expected to outlay about $6.8 billion this month, or 5.1 per cent more than last December. An estimated $1.9 billion would be spent on retail goods in the post-Christmas period in Victoria.

Mr Black said heavy discounting up to two weeks before Christmas had begun about three years ago to cash in on the increasing number of consumers who leave their shopping to the last minute.

These pre-Christmas discounts, he said, aimed to get foot traffic into shops, while post-Christmas discounts were about shifting stock that had failed to sell during the year.

David Jones's Ms Karlis said discounting before Christmas was mainly of gifts and party clothing.

However, the Boxing Day sales included all categories, including white goods, because bargain-hunters were usually shopping for themselves after Christmas.

Myer general manager of communications Mitch Catlin said all goods would be discounted by between 20 per cent and 70 per cent during the Boxing Day sales.

Commonwealth Securities equities economist Savanth Sebastian said many shoppers waited for sales before opening their wallets.

Consumers were aware the Australian dollar was strong, and retailers needed to pass on some of the savings on imports, he said.