CurlyDarling
12-26-2009, 04:32 AM
New Year's gift-shopping will cost an average of 11,900 roubles ($390) in Moscow this year - but it all depends on where you shop.
http://www.mnweekly.ru/images/5540/02/55400253.jpg
A survey from Komkon found that 27 per cent of Muscovites expected to lash out more than 10,000 roubles on festive gifts.
But while a bunch of big spenders pushed up the city average, most shoppers had more modest plans, expecting to spend 3,000 roubles to 10,000 roubles on stuffing their stockings.
The Moscow News found the tills were ringing merrily in the high-end GUM and bustling Yevropeisky malls, but the toy stalls at Savyolovsky were still waiting to herald big sales.
Punters have been flocking to the big mall next to Kievsky Station, according to shop assistants at stores like Marks & Spencer and Accessorize where sales are back to pre-crisis levels.
And for shoppers it was spend, spend, spend!
Katerina, 22, was defying the doom-mongers among her friends: "They are like, what New Year, are you crazy, we have crisis and flu, that's all we've got. I don't care, I will definitely buy presents for my family and friends."
The only difference Mikhail, 31, noticed, was that people weren't admitting how much they were spending on presents.
"It's always a blast, despite any crisis," he said. "People will save money for it - I'm spending the same as usual and so are my friends. But I notice people start to conceal how much they spend. They probably think every decent person should be feeling the crisis."
And Natalya, 29, wasn't going to let her husband's pay freeze put a chill on the festivities.
"It won't affect our holidays - the children already wrote to Ded Moroz and naturally they will get everything they want," she said, detailing a total spend of around 11,000 roubles ($360) on gifts for family, friends and herself.
On Red Square, where an outdoor skating rink in front of a snow-dusted St. Basil's Cathedral creates a suitable winter wonderland, it was business as usual for GUM shoppers.
One of them, Svetlana, 33, said she'd heard holidays were less popular this year but she was shopping on regardless.
"We're not going away ourselves, but that's not related to the economy," she added.
And elsewhere the message was "no change".
"Maybe there are fewer people in the shops and the mood of spending is gone, but my personal situation hasn't changed much," said Inna, 42.
At Savyolovsky - advertising itself with a comely Snegoruchka babe on its metro posters - there was little festive spirit to be found among the toy stores.
Osip, working in the Sim-Sim toy shop, said this year was the worst he'd known for sales.
"Even last year, when the crisis was starting, was better than this," he said. "I don't know what the problem is - maybe it's the whole economy."
Some things don't change, however. Among the few gifts being snapped up by parents, Lego remains by far and away the most popular.
In a nearby fancy-dress shop a couple stopped to ask for a Petrushka outfit but left disappointed when they couldn't get the right size for their child.
But staff admitted it was quiet.
"There are definitely fewer people this year," said a shop assistant. "A year ago people were still buying stuff but this time it's much less. Everyone's worried about the crisis, worried about losing their jobs. Nobody wants to spend a kopek unless they have to."
The clothes hall was eerily quiet, despite stores offering discounts of up to 70 per cent, or year-long credit on a fur coat at 10 per cent interest - compared with 18 per cent for consumer bank loans.
There was more life around the electronics stalls, but it wasn't expensive watches or flashy TVs that drew the crowds.
Dima, 27, had dropped in on his way home from work to buy a mobile phone - but rather than a gift it was simply replacing his old, broken model.
"I don't know what we'll do for the holidays," he said. "I think my family will get together and spend money on a party, and get each other less expensive presents."
Andy Potts, Elena Kirillova and Ayano Hodouchi
Moscow News
http://www.mnweekly.ru/images/5540/02/55400253.jpg
A survey from Komkon found that 27 per cent of Muscovites expected to lash out more than 10,000 roubles on festive gifts.
But while a bunch of big spenders pushed up the city average, most shoppers had more modest plans, expecting to spend 3,000 roubles to 10,000 roubles on stuffing their stockings.
The Moscow News found the tills were ringing merrily in the high-end GUM and bustling Yevropeisky malls, but the toy stalls at Savyolovsky were still waiting to herald big sales.
Punters have been flocking to the big mall next to Kievsky Station, according to shop assistants at stores like Marks & Spencer and Accessorize where sales are back to pre-crisis levels.
And for shoppers it was spend, spend, spend!
Katerina, 22, was defying the doom-mongers among her friends: "They are like, what New Year, are you crazy, we have crisis and flu, that's all we've got. I don't care, I will definitely buy presents for my family and friends."
The only difference Mikhail, 31, noticed, was that people weren't admitting how much they were spending on presents.
"It's always a blast, despite any crisis," he said. "People will save money for it - I'm spending the same as usual and so are my friends. But I notice people start to conceal how much they spend. They probably think every decent person should be feeling the crisis."
And Natalya, 29, wasn't going to let her husband's pay freeze put a chill on the festivities.
"It won't affect our holidays - the children already wrote to Ded Moroz and naturally they will get everything they want," she said, detailing a total spend of around 11,000 roubles ($360) on gifts for family, friends and herself.
On Red Square, where an outdoor skating rink in front of a snow-dusted St. Basil's Cathedral creates a suitable winter wonderland, it was business as usual for GUM shoppers.
One of them, Svetlana, 33, said she'd heard holidays were less popular this year but she was shopping on regardless.
"We're not going away ourselves, but that's not related to the economy," she added.
And elsewhere the message was "no change".
"Maybe there are fewer people in the shops and the mood of spending is gone, but my personal situation hasn't changed much," said Inna, 42.
At Savyolovsky - advertising itself with a comely Snegoruchka babe on its metro posters - there was little festive spirit to be found among the toy stores.
Osip, working in the Sim-Sim toy shop, said this year was the worst he'd known for sales.
"Even last year, when the crisis was starting, was better than this," he said. "I don't know what the problem is - maybe it's the whole economy."
Some things don't change, however. Among the few gifts being snapped up by parents, Lego remains by far and away the most popular.
In a nearby fancy-dress shop a couple stopped to ask for a Petrushka outfit but left disappointed when they couldn't get the right size for their child.
But staff admitted it was quiet.
"There are definitely fewer people this year," said a shop assistant. "A year ago people were still buying stuff but this time it's much less. Everyone's worried about the crisis, worried about losing their jobs. Nobody wants to spend a kopek unless they have to."
The clothes hall was eerily quiet, despite stores offering discounts of up to 70 per cent, or year-long credit on a fur coat at 10 per cent interest - compared with 18 per cent for consumer bank loans.
There was more life around the electronics stalls, but it wasn't expensive watches or flashy TVs that drew the crowds.
Dima, 27, had dropped in on his way home from work to buy a mobile phone - but rather than a gift it was simply replacing his old, broken model.
"I don't know what we'll do for the holidays," he said. "I think my family will get together and spend money on a party, and get each other less expensive presents."
Andy Potts, Elena Kirillova and Ayano Hodouchi
Moscow News