RETAILERS SAY THAT the days between Christmas and New Year’s have been “pretty positive”.

Across Ireland, people queued for sales to start on St Stephen’s Day and shopping centres have been busy since, building on a strong pre-Christmas for retailers.

Sean Murphy of Retail Excellence Ireland told TheJournal.ie that since 26 December, shops have been seeing strong sales.

“It’s been pretty positive and builds on a positive pre-Christmas.

“It looks as though a lot of consumers had been waiting until after Christmas.

“The 27th was a very busy day, which was probably helped by it being a Saturday. There are continued reports of positive spend and positive footfall.”

Irish shoppers have become more bargain-aware following the recession, Murphy says.

“Irish consumers have been marked by the crisis. Consumer patterns have fundamentally changed. The relatively good weather meant consumers, particularly men, held off on buying heavier items.

“Mens’ fashion has been particularly strong since Christmas.”

Murphy says that the changing face of Christmas shopping, with consumers waiting for sales means shops have had to change how they do business.

“Retailers are very canny about meeting the needs of consumers, which is why there are discounts both sides of Christmas.”

Read: Handbags at dawn: People were literally pulling bargains out of each other’s hands this morning

Read: St Stephens Day sales madness: Queues from 6am and ‘handbags at dawn’