Boxing Day sales due to hard times

Nest has debts of more than $3.7 million. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Today you can get a Boxing Day bargain and also help someone in their moment of misfortune. And all you have to do is go shopping.

Companies reeling from the effects of the recession are offering some of the best sales bargains as receivers try desperately to move stock.

Receivers for the Jean Jones clothing stores have been promising big sales in a bid to trade itself out of receivership.

Receiver Mike Horne, of Deloitte, said they would be offering customers 10 to 50 per cent off everything at all branches in a Boxing Day sale.

"We're still in receivership and we're on normal trading terms," he said. "We've been very happy with sales so far - they've actually exceeded expectations."

And upmarket homeware chain Nest, which has debts of more than $3.7 million, according to a receiver's report this month, is offering 50 to 75 per cent off everything in a "final days" sale beginning today at its Ponsonby store.

In buying up the bargains, shoppers will also be doing a good deed of sorts: helping to repay lenders.

The New Zealand-owned chain opened its first Nest store in Newmarket 11 years ago and has 11 outlets around the country. Its Wellington and Christchurch stores closed earlier this year.

The Bank of New Zealand, its biggest creditor, valued the company's stock at $373,600. The stock has been bought by Factory2U.

The store had already got rid of a lot of stock in sales leading up to Christmas, said Factory2U production marketing manager Steve Marples. "It's been fairly aggressive with the liquidation sale," he said.

Even in the run-up to Christmas, Nest's prices were attracting shoppers.

In Ponsonby, architect Dion Gosling, 39, bought a set of six pasta bowls reduced from $39.95 to $10 each. "It's really good," he said. "I just heard that it was closing down and here I am."

Claudia Powell, a 34-year-old nurse, was shopping for last-minute Christmas presents. "I was driving past and saw the sign," she said. "There are really good photo frames for $40 to $90 - for the size, it's good."

Of course, even those retailers in robust good health are still offering some heavy discounts for the Boxing Day sales, if you know where to look.

Nood is offering 60 to 75 per cent off a range of items, from kitchenware and towels, luggage and stationery.

At The Baby Factory, shoppers can expect 50 to 70 per cent off summer clothing. Shoppers at Bendon Outlet stores throughout the country won't pay more than $20 for any item, including those already reduced.

Appliance store Albany Extreme boasts its "biggest Boxing Day sale yet", cutting several prices to cost plus 4 per cent.

But while Boxing Day sales remain popular, there is an increasing trend for huge sales beforehand, according to University of Auckland senior marketing lecturer Tom Agee.

"It's certainly grown in the past 10 years and it's got earlier and bigger."

From last month, retailers were using new tricks to move stock fast, "manipulating" shoppers with short, high-discount sales, said Agee.

"These one-day shots are new. It's what gets people in.

"Last week, Farmers had a big one-day sale with 20 to 50 per cent off - I don't know how much better the bargains can be after Christmas."

A Paper Plus store in Parnell had advertised 25 per cent off all books for more than a week, said Agee.

Shoppers now tended to spend more in pre-Christmas sales rather than Boxing Day sales, said Agee, because they were usually shopping for more people.