How is Gloucester faring?
With only a few days to go until Christmas Day the indications are that, much to the relief of retailers, trade has improved considerably over the past few weeks, buoyed by a range of special offers and in some cases the early commencement of sales.

Rather disappointingly, footfall over the past few weeks has been down approximately 5 per cent each week compared with last year, although since the schools have broken-up for the Christmas holiday our malls have been extremely busy and we expect this trend to be reversed.

Generally speaking, retailers across the Mall have been trading well. Marks & Spencer reported that it is trading better than expected, while Woolworths' sales are excellent.

Our fashion retailers are generally very busy and trading well, although many have already or plan to go to sale before Christmas.

In the toy sector, very strong sellers are radio-controlled cars for boys and Bratz dolls for girls. Entertainment is also a keen seller including CD's, DVD's, DVD players, IPod's and IPod Nano's.

Last year The Mall Gloucester collected a magnificent total of over 1,100 gifts at our Mall Giving Tree for various local charities and this year the generosity of the people of Gloucester has continued with the number of gifts collected so far approaching last years total. The Christmas grotto has also proved popular and delighted shoppers of all ages

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