On this day in 1991, Canberrans were flocking to stores to make the most of winter sales. Stores said spending had increased from the year before and it was not only down to the sales but also the start of the school holidays.
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David Jones usually organised its sale month in July and it was no exception this time round as it kept patrons warm with coffee and live music. Its competitor, Grace Bros, expected a big sale turnout and opened its first sale salvo the previous Thursday hoping to get one up on its rival.
Grace Bros also opened earlier, from 7am, and offered patrons an additional 10 per cent discount throughout the store. Manager of the Grace Bros outlet in Canberra Centre, Derek Jury, said "the trading has been way beyond our expectations, the period between 7am and 9am was fantastic".
"The people who took advantage of it were here to spend money, last Thursday was exciting, but today's been even better, our figures are substantially up on last year's," he said.
Robert Mansfield, the ACT manager of David Jones, was equally overjoyed with the day's trading. "I had a guess [at what figures we post] and we had passed it at 4pm, at that time we were 20 per cent up on the figures for the full day's trading for the corresponding day of the sale last year," he said. The largest sales were in homeware, china, glassware and children's wear.
Mansfield also pointed out a lot of the trading had been done on credit card which to him, indicated good money management.
"People were careful at Christmas and held back," he said.
Other locations like the Tuggeranong Hyperdome and Woden Plaza reported having an excellent day in sales. The trading craze was also reported in Belconnen and even across the border at Queanbeyan's Riverside Plaza.
