Last-minute shopping surge sets Navan tills ringing

A last-minute shopping surge last week provided a much-needed boost for Meath businesses who reported a relatively busy festive season, but a reduced spend by shoppers. In Navan, traders were upbeat despite the fact that many experienced a fall-off in business this year - but many said the spending reduction wasn't as bad as they had feared. Trimgate Street trader Jack Kiernan said business seemed to be down about 12 to 15 per cent this year. "It wasn't as good as other years, but we are battling along. We were fairly busy for the last week. We had a nice busy spell since around 17th December, but there is less money around," he said. "We will be glad to see the back of 2009 and and look forward to 2010," he added. Brendan O'Dea of Bookwise said business had been slow at the start, but free parking had boosted business in the town. The Navan Retailers' Association chairman said there had also been some improvement since the budget, but business was still significantly down on last year, which itself hadn't been a great year. "I want to congratulate the town council on their decision to allow free parking. It did have an effect and I hope it will be re-enacted and expanded next year," he said. Mr O'Dea said business was very bad for the first two weeks in December but it had picked up well last week. Pat Mullaney of Navan Town Centre said footfall and car park numbers at the shopping centre were up on last year, but people were not spending as much. "Car park numbers are up around eight per cent on last year and the footfall last week was 212,000, which was also an improvement. There is a particular emphasis on price-conscious shopping and people are not spending as much, but we are all trading and getting a few quid out of it," he said. Navan publican and town councillor Padraig Fitzsimons said traders seemed happy enough and, while there were large numbers of people around, there was no doubt spending was down. "There was a lot of traffic in town and people were queueing to park, but people are being more frugal," he said. Cllr Fitzsimons said that the same big office party groups were not around this year and, instead, people were coming into the pub, having one or two drinks and going home.