Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce Wayne Walford is thrilled with the latest Paymark spending results for April. Photo/ Duncan Brown.
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce Wayne Walford is thrilled with the latest Paymark spending results for April. Photo/ Duncan Brown.
Hawke's Bay has topped the country for Easter spending value growth through the Paymark system.
According to Paymark's figures for April Hawke's Bay enjoyed an 11.7 per cent increase in the value of spending compared with the same period last year.
The number of transactions increased 9.7 per cent which was close behind the West Coast who reached a 10.4 per cent increase.
Napier was one of the few centres throughout the country which had shops open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday after the Napier City Council agreed to give retailers the option.
Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce CEO Wayne Walford commended the decision by the council.
"I was in Hawke's Bay for Easter and went in to Napier and it was pumping. It was fantastic for the retailers and Napier became a magnet for people wanting to access retail and spend money."
Mr Walford said he bumped in to people who travelled from Central Hawke's Bay just to enjoy the shops that were open.
Mr Walford also went to the farmers market during Easter weekend and said there were thousands of people spending money and enjoying some of Hawke's Bay's finest products.
He said it was hard to see a downturn with the amount of people out and about enjoying the holiday and sunny weather.
Napier mayor Bill Dalton was also pleased with the decision and believed it was the right option for the council and retailers to take.
"It will always be up to the retailers to decide whether they want to remain open or not but I think these figures prove that people do want to spend during Easter."
The latest figures showed that Hawke's Bay had 3.10 million transactions and $140.9 million was spent during April.
Following Hawke's Bay for value growth was Bay of Plenty with a 10 per cent growth while the national average for value growth sat on 4.3 per cent.
Paymark spokesman Paul Brislen said these results showed a good amount of spending in shops and an awareness of retail in Hawke's Bay.
"If the times are tough people don't spend as much so the figures are a good indicator for the region as a whole and these are good for Hawke's Bay."