Slight increase in Sliema shopper-turnout for January sales

Shop owners in Sliema said that despite the setbacks which online shopping and parking problems have brought with them, the shopper-turnout for the January sales has so far been slightly better than last year.

MaltaToday visited a handful of shops in what has arguably become Malta's shopping haven, and found that the majority of owners witnessed a similar or slight increase on last year's turnouts at this time of year.

The manager at another outlet, which preferred to remain anonymous, said that her shop was doing much better than it had last year although one reason for this was down to the fact that it had launched its sales period earlier on.

"Interestingly, we have had many people coming in because of the sales but they ended up buying items which were priced at their full value," she said.

The co-owner of Accessorize and Monsoon, Theresa Bartolo Parnis, also expressed her contentment that her outlets had not suffered drops from last year.

"We had good Christmas season and, thankfully, the January sales have also been very good," she said.

Meanwhile, Marthese Farrugia, Stock Supervisor at Dorothy Perkins, said that the turnout was similar to last year.

In total, MaltaToday visited eight outlets. Half of these claimed that they were witnessing better shopper-turnout than in 2013, whereas only one claimed to have had it better last year. The remaining three said that the turnout had remained the same.

In a survey carried out by the GRTU (Association of General Retailers and Traders) and released on Tuesday, it was revealed that Maltese businesses considered online shopping to be their main direct competitor over the Christmas period.

Over 200 respondents took part in the survey and included various localities such as Sliema, Valletta, St Julian's and Hamrun.  They seemed to place most of the blame for a stagnation in sales on online shopping, while shop-owners in Valletta and Sliema complained about a lack of parking.

MaltaToday asked the aforementioned shop owners whether they concurred with the findings of the survey.

"Well, there is a combination of factors as to why shops in Sliema may be witnessing fewer turnouts, but the logistics of transport and traffic are certainly not helping. In fact, many people who make their way to Sliema end up going to The Point because of its in-built parking facilities," one particular shop manager said.

Meanwhile, Bartolo Parnis said that the parking situation remained an ongoing issue.

"There is certainly a need for a concise and well-thought-out scheme for both the traffic and parking problems in the area," she said.

One shop assistant said that on some mornings, she would spend around an hour searching for a free parking space.

"Most shoppers will not have that amount of patience simply because the option of going somewhere else does not require them to," she said.

The undisputed problem of parking may be a big deterrent for many shoppers, but surely the emergence of the internet as a virtual shopping complex has further contributed negatively to the retail industry.

Marthese Farrugia described it as "a real setback" whilst John Camilleri, owner of 'Link-up' agreed, describing online shopping as having "taken over" the traditional means of shopping.

"I've been working in Sliema for 41 years now and it is clear that overall sales in the area have gone down," he said.

"The internet is a big factor in that. Quite simply, online shopping has taken over."

However, some retailers were not quite ready to accept such a statement.

"Online shopping has had an effect but not as much as many people might think. Ultimately, people still like the idea of going out to shop," one owner said.

Bartolo Parnis agreed, pointing out that online shopping does have its fair share of "shortcomings".

"Women, for instance, will always prefer to see first-hand and feel what they are buying - something which the internet does not allow for," she said.