Retailers are waiting to see what Christmas holds in store for them this year after reporting positive sales over the past couple of months.

Somers Cooper, managing director of A.S. Cooper & Sons, said trade started to pick up in October, gathering pace in November and he is hopeful that will continue through the month of December.

Paula Clarke, CEO of Gibbons Company Ltd., said it was too early to call how Christmas sales were going only three days into this month, adding that she would have more of an idea how business had gone after this weekend.

Mr. Cooper said her company’s figures were slightly ahead compared to November last year and hoped that trend would carry on until the end of the year at least.

“Business started to improve in October and gained momentum in November and we are hopeful it will follow up through December,” he said.

“We are not in a situation like many retailers last year caught in the beginning of a recession with a great deal of merchandise and are now almost operating with less merchandise than they did a year ago, so we are not in inventory liquidation mode.

“In the fashion business we have pretty much an eight to 10-week shelf-life for a particular item, where we mark it down after that period, so it is just a matter of time before we are making room for new stuff.”

Ms Clarke said so far, takings for the first three days of the week were looking positive, but the first weekend of December was a better indicator of how trade was faring.

She said Gibbons had a number of exciting promotions to attract customers, such as $20 gift cards for every $100 spent which can be redeemed in the store or used as a gift for someone else until January, with various clothing deals, including one for Renee Rolfe bras this weekend.