'Queues formed early this morning' - shoppers throng stores for St ...
Shoppers were out queueing early this morning hoping to grab some bargains in Brown Thomas and Arnotts.
Crowds could be seen waiting outside the main entrance to the stores before the doors opened, with mega deals and huge discounts on offer.
Arnotts, the largest department in Ireland, was offering up to 50pc off everything from homeware to high fashion.
Leading retailers such as Currys, Harvey Norman, DID Electrical, Zara, Next, M&S, H&M and TK Maxx have also launched major sales.
The general manager of Brown Thomas, Damien Deasy said that St Stephen’s Day is the store’s busiest shopping day of the year.
“Queues formed early this morning outside Brown Thomas and Arnotts stores,” he said.
“We were delighted to welcome customers to stores right across the country who turned out in great numbers for our St Stephen’s Day sales.
“There were fantastic reductions on offer across all departments, from beauty to clothing.”
Shoppers make their way into Arnotts department store in Dublin city centre for its annual post-Christmas sale.(Pic:Mark Condren)
An estimated €20m an hour will be spent by Irish consumers splurging on the festive sales.
The average household spent up to €1,030 this year for Christmas which equates a 3pc increase in holiday spending.
Figures shown by Retail Excellence Ireland (REI) revealed that some businesses make up to 40pc of their annual turnover from mid November to early January with sales from December 26 being of major importance.
In 2023, the busiest time of the year for spending in stores was between 3pm and 4pm on December 22, with almost €12m spent in that hour alone.
An AIB consumer study revealed a 130pc increase in spend on Friday, December 22 compared to the year prior.
This made it the busiest day of the year for in store shopping, with 2.9 million transactions and a total of €121m spent in shops.
Meanwhile, most supermarkets opening today have limited opening hours while others are not returning to normal trading until tomorrow.
Supermarket chains like Tesco and SuperValu are reopening today but trading hours in different outlets will vary.
Aldi, Dunnes Stores and Lidl branches are closed but will reopen tomorrow.
