Consumers here spent $3.4 million on Boxing Day, with latest figures showing customers were buying the same amounts as last year - but paying more for them.
Figures from Paymark, which processes more then three-quarters of all credit and debit transactions, showed that shoppers spent more than $3.4m across Hawke's Bay.
Interestingly, the 700,000 transactions that made up the amount was just 0.07 per cent up on last year, making it the nation's lowest rise.
Only Wellington, where the number of transactions dropped by -2.7 per cent, was lower for transaction volumes.
Hastings City Business Association general manager Susan McDade said, while the big national chain stores had been "pumping", many independent retailers on the city's main street chose not to open.