Christmas shopping trends are revealed

Dublin People 12 Dec 2015

Taylor Arbuthnot (12) from Fusion Elite All Star Cheerleaders, based in Ongar Community Centre, Blanchardstown, is pictured at the launch of the Simon House of Light festival. It was one of the many great events that adds to the festive atmosphere in the city centre. PHOTO: CONOR MCCABE PHOTOGRAPHY

FORGET Grafton Street and Southside retail outlets – the Northside’s Henry Street has been voted the most popular destination for Christmas shopping.

That’s according to a new survey from Q-Park Ireland that also found 60 per cent of us still prefer to do our Christmas shopping in town rather than a shopping centre.

The survey reveals that almost half of us (46 per cent) will make between two and four trips to the city centre over Christmas and 63 per cent will travel by car compared to just 32 per cent using public transport.

Christmas gift shopping is the primary motivator for those intending to visit the city centre (50 per cent) while almost one in five (17 per cent) will go in to soak up the Christmas atmosphere.

According to the Q-Park research, Henry Street is the place where shoppers will spend the most time this festive season (40 per cent), followed by Grafton Street (34 per cent) and the greater St Stephen’s Green area (12 per cent). Most shoppers (64 per cent) plan to spend three to four hours on average per shopping trip. When it comes to choosing how they travel, over a quarter (27 per cent) say that getting within close proximity of their desired destination was the most important factor. Getting in and out of the shops quickly is a priority for a quarter (25 per cent) while 22 per cent admit that difficulty transporting shopping bags is a big deterrent from using public transport.

Simon Madden of Q-Park Ireland, says the survey shows that making a trip to the city centre is still one of our favourite things to do at Christmas.

“Despite ongoing roadworks and diversions around the city centre due to the LUAS Cross City, all of our Q-Park locations, including St Stephen’s Green, Setanta and Clerys, are open for business 24/7 throughout the Christmas season,” he added.

“We are currently offering a ‘four hours for the price of three’ shopper special parking rate to ensure that busy shoppers are getting the best value for money during the Christmas period and it’s proving to be quite popular with our customers this December.”