Primark and early sales ‘set to kickstart Christmas’

Traders lost half a day of business when gale force winds hit Scotland on Thursday, and police advised against travel between 3pm and 9pm – leading to many shops closing at noon.

However, that was just a fraction of the disruption caused by weeks of snow last year, which decimated high street sales.

Primark has fought a four-year planning battle to get a base on Edinburgh’s most prestigious thoroughfare.

Bargain-hunters have long hoped to see the low-price retailer established in the capital, and supporters have argued that neighbouring shops will benefit from Primark’s pulling power.

Primark chief executive Paul Marchant said: “We are delighted to be opening our Scottish flagship store on Edinburgh’s Princes Street. We know there has been huge demand for a Primark in Edinburgh so we are delighted to finally be turning this into a reality.”

A spokesman for Primark added: “We have been working tirelessly to create our new flagship store in the heart of Edinburgh over the past year, so we’re delighted to announce that it will be completed and open to shoppers.

“We wanted to ensure that the store was up and running in time for the festive season, so that shoppers in the capital could have the chance to visit during the run up to Christmas.”

Primark declined to comment on whether other shops might reduce prices to match its own, but its arrival has coincided with discounts across the capital.

Accessorize is offering three for two on everything, while French Connection and La Senza both have items at 50 per cent off.

The discounts are not restricted to clothing. The Perfume Shop has 50 per cent off, Orange is offering free £60 headphones with all “pay as you go” phones over £30, and HMV has a range of discounts.

John Lewis has a range of brands reduced to clear, including Damsel in a Dress, Lazy Lu, Viyella, Planet, Precis, Coast, Phase Eight, Hobbs, and LK Bennett.

Elsewhere, Comet is offering 60 per cent off gifts, House of Fraser has 40 per cent off men’s and womenswear and 50 per cent off home and furniture, and Debenhams has 30 per cent off as part of its ‘Christmas extravaganza’.

Barry Matheson, managing director of John Lewis Edinburgh, said: “Our commitment to being ‘never knowingly undersold’ means that we continue to match the promotional activity of our competitors, ensuring that customers can be certain that they will be offered the best combination of price, quality and service at John Lewis – even at Christmas time.”

La Senza said in a statement: “We have launched our Christmas sale today, slightly earlier than previous years because we wanted to capitalise on footfall this weekend, which is in line with many other retailers on the high street.”

Business chiefs believe the early discounts have been driven by fear of another Christmas period hit by bad weather and rivalry from internet retailers.

Graham Birse, deputy chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: “Discounting has certainly started. We would usually expect to see these kinds of offers in the week of Christmas, so this is certainly one of the earliest sales we’ve seen.

“When I’ve been out and about I’ve noticed 10 per cent off this, and 20 per cent off that. What that’s about is driving up footfall in order to generate more sales.

“Really we are now in the early stages of the rush.”

Last year, retailers enjoyed a strong start to November, only to see heavy snow wipe out those early gains. By December the “big freeze” had hit the Scottish economy to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds, and was costing an estimated £15 million a day.

Many Christmas shoppers chose to stay indoors and instead ordered gifts online.

Mr Birse said: “I think everyone is conscious of what happened last year.

“Clearly it is something we would not want to repeat.

“But [the early sales] are symptomatic of a number of things. The consumer is looking to extract as much value from their Christmas budget as they possibly can – whether they are shopping at the higher or lower end – so these kinds of offers appeal.

“There’s a significant amount of competition with online retailers, such as Amazon. So I think high street retailers are trying to offer better value for money.

“What we would say is that the real retail experience, the city centre experience, is well worth it, particularly when combined with the ambience of the German market and the big wheel.”

In the west, Glasgow is also working hard to attract shoppers to the city centre.

Stuart Patrick, chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “There are certainly promotions and special offers, but we are not in sale mode by any means.

“In addition, this week the city council announced that there will be free off street parking in council car parks on the weekends leading up to Christmas, allowing the city centre to compete with the free parking of out of town malls.”