WHILE much of the population looks forward to the frenzy and fanfare of Christmas, it is Boxing Day that is traditionally marked most prominently on the retail calendar.
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National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb predicted more than $2.6 billion would be spent in the sale period after Christmas, with $655 million forecast to flow through online sales on December 26 alone. David Jones' Queensland regional manager Rowena Derksen told AAP the department store chain expected to service more than a million people nationally, with roughly the same number expected to seek out their bargains via the internet.
In the Hunter, Boxing Day sales are a relatively new phenomenon after laws passed in September 2017 to permit traders to open on the public holiday. That legislation followed a two-year trial of the change.
Before that, the traditional shopping blitz was largely isolated to Sydney's major hubs. The Hunter now has its own landmarks to commerce. In March last year the Newcastle Herald revealed that the spend on Charlestown, Kotara and Green Hills' most prominent shopping centres had soared past $1.1 billion since 2010.
The retail workers' union at the time argued the change "disregarded clear research, the views of the Newcastle community and opposition from retail workers and most employers."
Certainly, few are eager to head to work on summer public holidays like Boxing Day and even fewer deserve to be coerced into working on occasions such as this. Most industries, however, carry pros and cons in terms of availability and convenience for those involved.
The fact remains that retailers, like most other businesses, will operate only when there is an appetite for their products. Recent years have made it clear that Boxing Day sales offer such a demand. It is difficult to argue that this demand is better met in Sydney, which would serve only to allow further spending to escape the region beyond the globe-spanning options of internet shopping.
In 2018 Stockland calculated its $414 million overhaul of the Green Hills centre would capitalise on an "escape expenditure" of $1.132 million lost to Newcastle retailers and those beyond the Hunter. Given SGS Economics and Planning's analysis that found Newcastle's economy grew just 0.9 per cent in the past year, losing commercial activity appears a luxury the area cannot afford. The unsavoury side of retail workers being required on public holidays is one best dealt with through industrial protections and penalty rates rather than legal restrictions on trading hours. Those who do work these days deserve recognition for their efforts, and acknowledgement that it is not a day akin to any other. Equally, shoppers deserve the chance to spend local and it appears they have voted with their feet.