Trimingham's has tripled the number of items listed on its website in a bid to counter the down-turn in retail sales on the Island and fight the growing threat of Internet shopping.

And the department store hopes that the new listings and better prices for mailing around the world will bring in customers lost from the down-turn in tourism.

The company will also soon be launching an on-line bridal registry which it hopes will put the store at the forefront of this lucrative sector on the Island.

"If the customer is no longer coming to us, then we have to go to the customer,'' said Richard Woolnough, corporate Internet manager at the shop.

"The company is determined that the Internet is going to be a good item, a good product. And we have spent a great deal of time making the site as good as it is.'' The company says that many of the customers who used the site have been tourists looking to buy Bermuda-related goods on the net, and they have expanded the Bermuda gift section in response to this demand.

And Trimingham's hopes that locals looking to send Bermuda goods abroad to friends and family will find the new no-hassle way of shopping a bonus.

"Say you wanted to buy a Bermuda crest shirt, you pick the colour and the size, and when you go to buy it, it shows it costs $15, and you can see up front the cost of sending it to the US, which would be $10 for this item.

"From the comfort of your home or office, you click, you pay, and we take care of it. We pack it up, send it off, and make sure it gets there. The quickest we have managed so far from purchase to delivery is 22 hours to Delaware, which is not bad.

"People are busy these days, and if Bermudians are shopping from home on the Internet abroad, why not shop on the Internet in Bermuda. We have free delivery anywhere on the Island.'' In fact Mr. Woolnough said that some goods on the list of 300 or so items are cheaper in Bermuda than in the United States, even with shipping costs.

The example he gave is a top-of-the-range face cream which has been touted in many women's glossy magazines as the best on the market, Sisleya. In Bermuda it retails at $225 a tub, while in the States it is $300 plus sales tax.

"If you ship it to the US it would cost you $265, which is quite a saving for US customers from just going on-line,'' he said.

The site can be found at www.triminghams.com, but the store also has the rights to the same site spelt with two `m's in case of spelling errors and a .bm site as well.

The site also has a careers section, and for those looking for jobs at the store, there is a list of vacancies and information about working in the store as well as an e-mail link.

The on-line bridal section, when up and running, will allow the user to search for the registered family by not only the name of both the bride and groom, but also the name of mothers and fathers of the couple.

The list will be displayed and users will be able to click on items and buy them on-line, and the gifts will be sent on to the couple.