Booming festive season

Tills rang to the chime of Christmas bells, leaving coffers as rotund as Santa’s belly in Ballito this holiday.
Local business owners are all smiles reporting higher turnovers than last Christmas.
Ballito Junction centre manager Theresa Mariayia said the majority of their tenants experienced an increase in turnover between 20% and 50% from December 2012.
She attributed this boom to “the constant unexpected wet weather” that made customers continue shopping later in the month.
Pick ‘n Pay Ballito owner Michael Lafferty said last year showed a significant growth in general goods purchases of 35% while Christmas goods such as turkey and gammon stabilised. He said the shift in people’s spending resulted from the increase in middle income earners in the area and their will to spend.
“While in 2012 we had the perfect holiday weather, last year we had about 20 wet days and that saw small centres losing customers to big malls like Gateway but overall we did not have a bad season.”
Lafferty said they saw an increase of 20% in liquor sales with most customers showing interest in their wine collection.
Lifestyle centre manager Mark Pearse said they had not yet received turnover figures from their tenants, but the early feedback suggests that a number of them experienced an outstanding festive season of trading.
“The restaurants were experiencing bumper trading and certainly had their hands full accommodating all the holiday makers. Our car counts reflect a very acceptable growth, despite all the concerns of the road access. We are pleased to report that the flow of traffic was nowhere near as problematic as many were anticipating.”
Their busiest day was on Christmas Eve with the Super Spar closing its doors just before 10pm to accommodate everyone’s last minute shopping.
Tiffany’s Shopping centre manager Nicky Vorster also reported a very good influx of visitors and regulars. Vendors at local beaches also enjoyed a few extra rands in their pockets. Bead and wire artist, Simba Mazchambe said they had one of their best festive seasons so far.
“I thank the Lord for all the tourists who visited Willard Beach because they loved my work and mostly bought big pieces like lamp shades and decorative works,” said Mazchambe.