While not as big as metropolitan areas, the annual Boxing Day sales had Wagga’s bargain hunters roaming central shops earlier than usual.
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The majority of retailers in Wagga Marketplace, Sturt Mall and along Baylis Street were opened for trading, with some offering up to 50 per cent discounts.
Resident Garrett Lane and his eight-year-old daughter, Ivy, made the trek into town to see what was on offer.
“This is the first time I’ve come into town for quite some time,” Mr Lane said.
“Just looking for impulse buys, really – whatever’s cheap.”
Mr Lane said that the sales always boosted the local economy but he could also understand the criticism about the event being over-commercialised.
“But you look past that and it’s all up to the consumers and how they want to take it,” he said.
“You can get sucked into the marketing or you can still stick to tradition – it’s up to the individual.
As for advice, he said he had “noticed the brick and mortar stores are becoming quite competitive”.
“If you look around like I do, you can find that a lot of storefronts are being competitive and if you do approach them, they will meet the online prices.
“It’s just about shopping around to get the best deals.”
Similarly, fellow resident Fred Vinuya said he and his family, who began shopping about 8.30am, were “just trying to find some really big discounts”.
“My advice is to check the prices before Boxing Day and compare them because some are on sale before Boxing Day and then not anymore on the day,” Mr Vinuya said.
“So you need to be vigilant about those things.”
One store opening earlier than usual was ISHKA Wagga
“It was a slow start but there were people around 8am, which I didn’t think there would be,” store manager Rebekah Kirby said.
“A lot of shoppers were saying they wanted to take advantage of sales early.
“We’re 50 per cent off store-wide for Boxing Day and we’re getting a lot of people through with gift vouchers, taking advantage of the vouchers they got for Christmas.
“And clothing being the big one this morning because they’re thinking about themselves rather than gifts.”
Collins Booksellers, however, is trading as per usual with regular discounts.
Store manager Karen Little said that while the day began “a bit slow, it was early so it should pick up”.
“We open 9am to 2pm, the same as the marketplace and we just have our normal deals,” Ms Little said.
“We won’t have anymore breaks and we’ll be working straight through into the new year.”
Today, Sturt Mall is opened until 5.30pm while Wagga Marketplace is opened until 2pm.
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