Country shoppers stay out of Dublin as tradition fades

DECEMBER 8th used to mark the start of the Irish Christmas season and it was the day when people “from the country” travelled to the city to do their shopping – but not any more and, say retailers, it is now just like any other day.

Being the Feast of the Immaculate Conception it is a holy day, when many people go to Mass. It is also the first big shopping day of the festive season.

For many people from outside Dublin the traditional meeting place was under the Clerys clock, but, says the store’s chief executive, PJ Timmins, “shopping patterns have changed”.

Over the last 20 years, he said, there had been a shift away from the practice and with so many more places to shop outside Dublin, December 8th had become “pretty much just like any other day in the run-up to Christmas”.

Mr Timmins said that in recent weeks business has been “very strong”, particularly compared with 2010, when snow kept many people away. “We are definitely seeing a level of pent-up demand that we did not see last year,” he said. “We are also seeing people buying a lot of big ticket items ahead of the VAT changes.”

Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny agreed that things had changed.

He said that while trains had ferried more passengers into Dublin yesterday than on a normal Thursday, the increase was not comparable with previous years, when the company had to put on extra trains.

He said that the 10 per cent increase in passengers coming into Heuston Station yesterday was “significantly lower than what we would have seen a few years ago”. He speculated that much of the increase in passenger numbers was probably down to the opening of a “Winter Wonderland” in the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham yesterday.

Andrew Smyth of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce said: “While December 8th is not a special day any more, business is still good and people are taking advantage of a lot of special offers and incentives from retailers.”