West Midlands shoppers defy credit crunch

Dec 9 2008 by Harriet Alexander, Birmingham Mail

CHRISTMAS shoppers in the West Midlands are defying the credit crunch to hit the high street in their thousands in a buying bonanza which has delighted retailers.

The managers of regional shopping centres are celebrating after a bumper weekend, which saw stores crammed with present-buying shoppers who sent cash tills jingling.

Birminghams Bullring was packed, Solihulls Mell Square shopping centre said business was brisk while the Mander Centre in Wolverhampton said shopper numbers were 25 per cent up on last year.

John Lamb, spokesman for the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: People are throwing caution to the wind this year.

Its been so miserable, they want to really enjoy Christmas.

I have spoken to some retailers who have seen the biggest increase in the number of customers coming through the door for three years.

People are thinking that what they might be saving on their mortgage should go towards having a great Christmas to cheer themselves up.

The retailers are all competing with each other with massive price cuts, partly due to the reduction in VAT but also because they want to cash in on the shoppers extra cash.

Organisers of the Clothes Show Live, currently at the NEC, are also delighted, saying an estimated 195,000 visitors are expected by the time it closes tomorrow, with sales on course to exceed s21 million.

The figures suggest the region may be bucking the national trend, with todays latest monthly retail sales figures revealing the first successive monthly fall in overall sales for nearly 14 years.