Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Jingle at the tills: Last-minute Christmas shoppers give retailers a boost

Huge crowd of people walking down Union Street in Aberdeen to do their Christmas shopping
Flocks of people have come out across the north and north-east to do their Christmas shopping. Picture of Union Street, Aberdeen today by Wullie Marr / DC Thomson

Shopping centres and high streets were bustling and tills were ringing this weekend as last-minute Christmas shoppers headed out.

With the last posting dates now passed and many delivery companies unable to guarantee parcels will arrive before December 25, many shoppers have returned to the high street to snap up the last gifts on their lists.

In Inverness, the Eastgate Centre’s car parks were full by lunchtime and retailers were reporting good sales.

Manager Jackie Cuddy revealed figures were nearly back to pre-Covid levels in 2019.

She said: “We’ve been busy, carparks were almost at full capacity yesterday at lunch time around 1pm.

“Retailers are saying they’re having good sales, everybody seems to be out and about this weekend.

“The last week has been pretty good, apart from Thursday when the weather was bad.

“We’re now only running about 15-18% down on 2019 pre-Covid levels, so that’s the closest we’ve got back to then, so that’s really encouraging.”

Jackie Cuddy in Eastgate shopping centre
Jackie Cuddy, Manager of the Eastgate Centre in Inverness. Image: Sandy McCook/DC Thomson

‘Real buzz in the centre’

It was just as busy in Aberdeen, with shopping centre car parks busy from early on.

Traffic was nose to tail from Berryden Road on Saturday, continuing right down to the Denburn towards The Trinity Centre and Union Square.

The car park at Berryden Retail Park – which contains Currys, Next and Home Bargains – was packed as shoppers hurried to snap up last-minute gifts.

In the city centre today, people laden with shopping bags carefully picked their way over the icy slush in St Nicholas Street before hurrying on with their errands.

The Trinity Centre – where the P&J currently has a food drop-off point for The Big Christmas Food Appeal – was steady with shoppers.

Bon Accord centre
Shoppers making their way into the Bon Accord shopping centre today. Picture by Wullie Marr / DC Thomson

‘Positive numbers’ in lead up to Christmas

Craig Stevenson, manager of the Bon Accord Centre, has been pleased to welcome shoppers through the doors.

“We have seen positive visitor numbers in the lead-up to Christmas creating a real buzz in the centre,” he said.

“We are delighted by the positive feedback on our events this year with Santa’s Workshop welcoming thousands of families excited to meet Father Christmas.

“There is one week left of Christmas shopping, and our extended opening hours offer a great opportunity to those still looking to pick up some last-minute gifts.”

Queues of traffic backed up along Market Street as shoppers made their way into Union Square in Aberdeen.<br />Image: Wullie Marr/DC Thomson

Union Square was also busy today, with traffic backed up along Market Street.

The boost for shopping centres comes after a report by the Scottish Retail Consortium revealed a significant decrease in footfall in the last three years.

Figures showed the number of shopping centre visitors in Scotland dropped by more than a quarter in November compared to pre-pandemic levels.

 

Conversation