SHOP owners say the purse strings have tightened this Christmas with sales steady but spending on the slide.
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Retailers on the main street almost unanimously identified the drought as the main culprit behind the festive frugality.
While it might sound like a dire forecast, the businesses sense support for Tamworth-owned shops have been galvanised in the trying conditions.
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Sara Winston-Smith from The Magic Pudding said this month had been good after an, at times, “excruciating” year.
“People were a lot more savvy and money-conscious,” she said.
“I’m online and that probably got me through the drought.
“I think you have just got to be smart about your business.”
Coming off an “unseasonably big” Christmas in 2017, Kathy Keating at The Lemon House said people were spending less on gifts this year.
While people were not letting the cash flow as freely as years gone by, Mrs Keating said customers were being more conscientious with their spending.
“People have commented, ‘because of the drought we have not shopped online, we have tried to shop locally,” she said.
Eifla Hardman from The Other Shop said online components of the business were thriving but the main rush of sales came at the end of November with Black Friday sales.
She said retail businesses need to continually evolve their strategies to stay ahead, while also competing with rising living expenses faced by families.
“You have just have to keep diversifying in business, you keep having to try new strategies,” she said.
“What worked in the year before, doesn’t work in this year. “It is harder and harder to find an unique and exclusive product to sell.”