Winter sales to start early

WINTER sales are starting on January 7, approximately a month earlier than usually provided by law (first Monday of February).

On the last day of 2008, Commerce Minister, Antonis Paschalides, issued the decree that sets the date of winter discounts on January 7 ending February 21, 2009. The sales regard clothing, footwear, household equipment and furniture.

The decision to bring forward the official start of sales was deemed necessary by the Commerce Ministry, following the situation created on the market, with widespread discounts, primarily from large department stores and supermarkets, developments that led to angry reactions from the Small Shopkeepers’ Union POVEK.

The union, for the umpteenth time, blamed the large business for the “anarchy in the market”.

But the executive director of the Cyprus Association of Hypermarkets, Andreas Hadjiadamou, said yesterday that, “large shopkeepers put their products on sale with the sole purpose to revive the market… Sales benefit the consumers, and give them the opportunity to see and choose the products they want.”

Large retailers insist this in the interest of the public, especially in the current difficult economic conditions, rejecting the criticism made by POVEK and accusing them of being “dogmatic”.

Both POVEK and the large retailers agree with the decision to bring forward the official start of the sales.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.