Traders in Burnham-On-Sea have thanked local residents for supporting them in the run-up to Christmas after a generally buoyant festive shopping season.
A majority of shops in the town centre have reported a positive Christmas period despite continuing economic gloom nationally and the Chamber of Trade has thanked residents for supporting the town.
Rob Bashford at Truckles Farm Shop told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We had a very busy festive period with bookings for Christmas food starting as early as September. It did seem that more people were shopping in town this year.”
Julie Dean at Flowers and Things in Victoria Street added: “We had very good trade in the run-up to Christmas with lots of local support – it was better than previous Christmases.”
And John Lyons at Sentiments on the High Street added: “It was quite a good Christmas – we beat last year’s figures and were pleased with the local support. I think the wet weather may have helped because some shoppers didn’t want to travel out of town to the malls in such conditions.”
Carol Jones at Bastins told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It was busy for us – we had a particularly manic few days before Christmas with shoppers even queuing outside the door before we opened on one morning!”
And fishmonger Steve Wright at SeaFoods added: “It was a quiet autumn for us, but we had a very busy three weeks in the run-up to Christmas. Locals know they can get better quality fish here than the supermarkets.”
Not all shops were buoyant, though. Phil Hemming from Home Hardware said: “Trade was about on a par with last Christmas with the sale of festive items, such as decorative lights, being about the same as last year.”
And DP Menswear’s Dennis Preedy said: “We had a poor November and trade in December was about what we expected.”
A Burnham Chamber of Trade spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Some traders did better than others, but overall Burnham had a better Christmas than some expected considering the tough economic conditions. We thank local residents for supporting the town and hope they continue to back the town centre in the months to come.”
