Rarotonga’s gift and liquor stores are bracing for another eventful weekend following a busy period leading up to Christmas and bumper Boxing Day sales on Monday.

A handful of stores opened up on Monday for Boxing Day Sales to continue the spirit of festive gift-buying and giving.

Mareko Island Creations continued their 15-year-old tradition of opening on Boxing Day to offer their popular specials to the public.

Cherrelle Sherwin, co-owner of the store, said: “We choose to open on Boxing Day to offer our people some specials and for our company as we like to start the new year with new products.”

Her husband Mark started the Boxing Day Sale a decade and a half ago. He said he would continue for many years to come.

Raromart had a 20 percent sale off their entire store which attracted buyers who wanted to get some extra shopping in before the festive season ended and prices returned back to normal.

Gus Meyer, general manager of Raromart, said he believed that the sale encouraged people to come forward to buy whatever they wanted as reduced sales enabled them to buy items that they may have had their eye on for a while.

“The public’s response was very good. Given the circumstances we were very happy with the results,” Meyer said.

Raromart has opened in the past on Boxing Day and has always done well with buyers wanting to come in to top off their Christmas lists and get whatever they are needing for their households sorted before the New Year.

Meyer said: “It was a very successful day, from a sales point of view. It was also rewarding for us to give the customers an opportunity to buy things at a discounted price that’s different throughout the year. People were able to pick up anything from pots and pans to umbrellas at a reduced cost.”

Raromart will continue on with a 10 percent off everything in store until this Friday, December 31 for anyone who missed out and is still wanting to get some December shopping out of the way.

The festive season also brought as it does every year the excitement for the residents to go into holiday mode and hit the liquor stores as they celebrate the end of a work year.

The Bond Store had a busy day with sales on Friday last week as Rarotonga geared up for the long weekend. Alcohol sales were steady due to the fact that the store was closed from Christmas, December 25 through to Tuesday, December 28. The law stipulates no alcohol sales on Christmas Day despite the public holidays being moved to Monday and Tuesday. 

Patricia Barton, chief executive of The Bond Store, said: “Christmas is usually a great time for our business. This year the five public holidays with zero trading days are going to have a big impact on our profitability throughout the festive season.” 

For this reason, they will be open as normal on New Year’s Day (Saturday) but will observe the two public holidays and remain closed on January 3 and 4.

“Christmas Eve is always our busiest day of the year. Due to most of our wholesale customers still being closed we noticed a big difference in terms of wholesale versus retail sales from previous years, with retail far outperforming wholesale.”

New Year’s Eve is usually the second biggest day of the year of business for the store. However, with most of their wholesale customers remaining closed and the large number of people who have left to go to New Zealand for the festive season, Barton believes this will make an impact on their new year’s sales.