By Annabelle Tukia
In Christchurch the sales were on too but nobody was making jokes about retail therapy, especially the retailers.
Some of them were only just opening again after Friday’s abrupt earthquake closure.
The tills were ringing again at the Palms Shopping Centre today.
Music to the ears of mall managements, who since Friday have been busy tidying up.
Keryn Ward says there was quite a mess.
“We'd had a lot of stock come off shelves and mannequins that'd fallen over. We didn't have any liquefaction which was really good and structurally this building has held up extremely well.”
For retailers like Nevill Bullock, who works at Life Pharmacy, it was essential today brought business as usual.
“Christmas Eve is usually the busiest shopping day of the year and to be closed for that day and half the previous one, it hurts the tills a lot so it's great to be open, it’s fantastic.”
Shoppers clearly thought so too, undeterred by the constant aftershocks.
Heather Melville was in Farmers when one of the quakes struck on Friday.
“I just felt so sorry for them. As you walk you see everything on the floor yet again and so I thought I just want to come and support them.”
But in Linwood shoppers will have to wait a few more days to bag their bargains.
Mall management at Eastgate say the building has been checked and cleared by engineers but cosmetic repairs mean most shops will not be open until Wednesday.
Christchurch’s Boxing Day sales may just run a little late this year.
3 News