Shoppers have been piling into Swansea’s busy Quadrant Centre in the run-up to Christmas.
In the run-up to last Saturday, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, footfall in the Quadrant was up by over four per cent on last year as the Centre continued to buck the recession.
That added up to a massive 325,968 shoppers in the Quadrant in the week starting Monday, December 12, and the pace has shown no sign of slackening this week with most shops reporting brisk business.
For the same period in 2010 312,875 shoppers hit the Quadrant’s malls and that meant an increase of 4.2 per cent this year.
Christmas trade is vitally important for entertainment giants HMV and their Quadrant Centre store was chosen this autumn to be one of the first in the UK to have its technology department given a makeover.
Its size was increased and it seems to be paying off with a spokesperson at the store, where ten extra staff were taken on for Christmas, saying: “The technology stuff has just been flying out and is proving so popular.
“But across the store it’s been brilliant, we’ve had huge queues every day so far and we’ve just been so busy.
“Some of us have had to stay late in the stock room just to get things out onto the shelves.”
Thorntons has also reported excellent sales with assistant manager Carole Boswell saying: “It’s been busy with much better sales than usual and opening late has worked very well with plenty of office workers stopping off to do some Christmas shopping on their way home.
“This is always one of our busiest times of year along with Valentine’s Day and Easter but Christmas lasts longer so it’s even more hectic.”
At the Perfume Shop manager Jane Baldock said: “It’s been non-stop really for a while now and we’ve been consistently busy so it’s very good news.
“Top men’s fragrance is Paco Rabanne One Million and we actually ran out of that very early on but we’ve had it back in stock now.
“For the women the two most popular are Paco Rabanne Lady Million and Gucci Guilty and they’re doing very well but it’s been much better than last year.”
Quadrant Centre Manager Alan Wallace said: “It seems to be going very well and we’re very encouraged by the footfall figures which are up on last year.
“The Quadrant is a popular place for people to shop, it’s very convenient, it’s under cover and there’s plenty of parking as well as direct access from the bus station and it’s under cover too and that definitely helps in the winter especially.
“All our units are taken and whenever one falls vacant it seems to be filled pretty quickly so that says something about how retailers view the Quadrant. They obviously see it as a good site.”
Debenhams in the Quadrant will be opening its doors again on Boxing day at 7am and the whole centre will be open at 8am that day and will stay open until 7pm.
