IN THE midst of their second ‘austerity Christmas’, Cypriots seemed unsure yesterday whether the recession was really over or whether they should continue to be cautious with the prospect of another year of economic doom and gloom ahead in 2011.
As Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides and local officials in Limassol and Paphos tried to pump up confidence by talking about lower prices this Christmas, shoppers and shop owners’ views were varied, depending on which town they were in.
Nicosia and Limassol seemed to be doing well, albeit on a budget, but in Paphos the situation was described as “tragic” and “desperate”.
In the capital both shoppers and shops were a bit more optimistic, lending some credence to Paschalides’ comment that there had been a turnaround in consumer confidence in recent days, despite the warm weather that was stopping people from buying winter clothes.
Speaking after a visit to a Limassol shopping centre, Paschalides said: “There has been some movement and everyone says the prices compare favourably to last year’s”. He also said he thought recovery would be ‘much faster than some might think”.
A quick tour of Nicosia yesterday gave some cause for cautious optimism. At the Mall of Cyprus, several shop managers reported an increase in customers this year (although many were spending the same amount or less) while the city centre was packed out with last-minute shoppers.
Public store’s general manager Stavros Stavrianos said: “I can say we are going well. We have more customers than last year. They are shopping with less average value. That means approximately the same sales as last year.”
The outlook was less rosy at cosmetics store Glow, but nevertheless above expectations. Store manager Marilena said: “It is not as slow as we thought it would be but I think they are being more careful and only buy what’s necessary. They don’t just see something and just take it – they think about it, see the price and then see if they can take something else.”
At Intersport, manager Yiannis Ioannis also reported an increase in customers, saying: “Business is better than last year. The average spend is about the same. We have around 10 per cent more customers than last year.”
Asked about the future, he said: “We will have sales in January. According to the law we cannot have sales without a members’ card, but business is looking good.”
One store that offers a members’ card and has launched a 50 per cent pre Christmas sale on some items was Debenhams, and judging by the packed queues and hordes of people carrying the store’s shopping bags their ruse seems to have paid off. The 50 per cent sale however only began on Thursday, which irritated those who had done their shopping early. “I bought a jacket there on Monday for €70,” said one irate shopper. “When I went on Thursday it was only €35.”
An informal survey of shoppers on Ledra Street yesterday showed that people thought prices had risen or they complained that Cyprus was generally more expensive than other countries, such as the UK or Poland. One British Cyprus resident, who was not shopping but in Nicosia with her two children aged 19 months and 9 months to take in the festive atmosphere said: “I did all of my shopping in the UK because it is too expensive here: Especially for clothes –they’re half the price in the UK.”
In Paphos, local DISY deputy Costas Costantinou said it was the most difficult Christmas the town had seen for years. He described the situation as ‘tragic’.
Numerous shop owners also told local radio the situation was desperate. Some said they may be forced to close down. They did not believe that better days were to come, they said, “not even after the completion of work planned by the municipality of Paphos to upgrade the town centre.”
Another Paphos deputy, Andreas Facontis of AKEL said peoples’ purchasing power had been greatly reduced. “Many two-income families in Paphos have now been reduced to only one income because one of them has lost their job,” he said.
Christmas shopper Eleni Andreou agreed. “My husband and I both had good jobs and a reasonable amount of money to spend on luxuries,” said the mother of one who added that she liked to shop on a weekly basis. But all that changed after her husband lost his job five months ago.
“My husband was involved in real estate,” she said. “He has now been unemployed for nearly six months and we are finding it very hard as he was the main earner on our family.”
Andreou said her Christmas budget was limited but that she had chosen to shop in Paphos to support the shop owners. “The situation in Paphos is very bad, and the streets are empty; something must be done to help and it needs to be immediate,” she said.
Paphos Deputy Mayor Makis Rousis however called on people to try and improve their psychology and not to succumb to the bombardment of negativity about the economic crisis. He urged Pafians to believe in a better tomorrow.
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His message was echoed by Christis Demetriou, Limassol city centre shop owners representative, who urged people to ignore rumours that 2011 will be worse than 2010.
Demetriou said: “In our opinion the crisis is more a psychological. Let’s leave moaning behind and proceed with optimism.”
There is of course one side to the Christmas shopping that never changes: food. Grandmother of two Salomi Kritioti said “Those people who have money in Cyprus will spend it on presents, while those who don’t won’t, but the main thing is to have food.”
