Christmas is associated with the Andy Williams classic – ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’.
But for shop owners it can be a make-or-break period only enjoyable once the tills have stopped ringing.
And each year figures are showing shoppers are increasingly turning to the internet for Christmas gifts.
National figures show the first Friday in December recorded a drop of 25 per cent of people shopping on the High Street compared to the same day in 2014.
But some, Nottinghamshire towns, like Mansfield, may be bucking the trend.
According to footfall figures from the town’s BID 4,500 more people took to the town on Sunday, December 13, than the corresponding Sunday last year.
We’ve gone through the hard times
David Wilson, acting business manager for Mansfield BID, said: “My belief is we’ve actually gone through the hard times, people keep spending more money, so the money clearly there.
“And if you look at the empty shops in Mansfield, we haven’t got that many.
“We’re getting confidence from retailers – we know they are wanting to invest here.”
Online shopping and bargain bonanzas like Black Friday are changing shopping habits, and even the biggest retailers are having to update the way they interact with customers.
Rhianne Poole is a marketing executive for Retail Assist, which supplies shops with software and project management support.
“Every store is working to get their conversion rate in-store. Stores for example are bringing in initiatives that combine retail and leisure – people want to come in store and have a good time.”
Meanwhile in Newark, shops are also finding new ways of adapting to the climate.
“I think, rather than see there’s a problem, I think they have adapted to make sure they are meeting everybody’s needs.” said Amy Codd, chairman of Newark Business Club.
“Shops have acknowledged that they now have to be very proactive – the time of people just going in to town because there’s nowhere else to go has long since passed.”
With a warm weekend on the way – including temperatures of up to fifteen degrees centigrade on Saturday – mild weather may draw more shoppers away from their keyboards and into town centres.
At least, that’s what high street retailers are hoping.
