Retail rush hits Scotland's shops

By Stephen Stewart
BBC Scotland news website

Christmas shoppers fill Glasgow's Buchanan Street

Scots shoppers are on target to spend billions of pounds during one of the retail industry's busiest periods.

This year's Christmas is expected to be worth about £2.4bn to Scottish retailers, according to new figures.

Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow, one of the country's largest shopping centres, attracted almost 200,000 shoppers in one weekend.

Retail experts said business was exceeding expectations and was picking up in the run-up to Christmas Day.

The Scottish Retail Consortium said that about £460m would be spent in shops throughout Edinburgh during the festive season with more than £550m spent in Glasgow.

On average, Scottish shoppers will spend £370 on Christmas gifts.

The number of people shopping is very encouraging for the economy Fiona Moriarty Scottish Retail Consortium

SRC Director, Fiona Moriarty, said: "We are now beginning to see a really large upturn in people going to the shops.

"The number of people shopping is very encouraging for the economy. It has been slow in coming but things are really picking up now.

"People appear to have been thinking more carefully about what and when they buy."

Hamish Millar, general manager at Buchanan Galleries, said that in November they had about 1.8 million visitors to the centre.

He added: "Trade has grown steadily throughout December, with sales of electrical items and technology particularly strong.

Clear increase

"This past weekend was especially busy with around 170,000 shoppers passing through the centre.

"We recently conducted an exit poll of shoppers in the centre which showed that average spend was up and people were spending longer in the centre and this is certainly helping the shops to meet expectations."

The centre expects more than two million visitors through its doors by the end of December.

George Reader, centre manager of Princes Square, Glasgow, said there had been a clear increase in shoppers.

He added: "Shopping footfall within the square is picking up momentum as Christmas approaches and we anticipate that the trend will continue up until Christmas Day and throughout the festive season."