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.”
‘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.
‘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.”
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