December 8th ‘certainly different’ in Dublin with less rural shoppers on streets

On the traditional day when rural dwellers flocked to the capital for their Christmas shopping, this year Dublin city centre was “certainly different”, Kay Mealy from Drogheda observes as she take a photo of the Arnott’s Christmas window.

Ms Mealy and her husband are in town for an essential appointment and have just a couple of hours to browse the stores and soak up the festive atmosphere.

“This is our first time down to Dublin during the Christmas period,” she says.

Asked if she has done much online shopping this year, Ms Mealey shakes her head, smiling: “This is more or less the time to get it done,” she adds.

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Historically, December 8th was the date that marked the beginning of the Irish Christmas shopping rush and is a holy day that used to see most schools close.

In recent years the day has been overtaken by online shopping trends such as Black Friday. And this year despite non-essential retail reopening after six weeks on December 1st, the restrictions on inter-county travel until December 18th have lessened the rural shopping rush to Dublin.

Among those shoppers to make the journey is Margaret from Mullingar. She has most of her Christmas shopping finished by now but enjoyed spending December 8th “pottering around” Dublin’s bustling streets.

She has travelled over for the day with two of her friends, as is their festive tradition, but it is pure coincidence that they have arrived on this holy day, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

“We come up to Dublin every year for a bit of shopping. Normally we would stay in a hotel with friends but not this year, obviously,” she says, adding that there is a “nice atmosphere” around Grafton Street.

Margaret says she did most of her Christmas shopping online this year due to the pandemic. Today she is in search of a nice ring for herself to belatedly celebrate turning 60 last March.

“I am treating myself… I don’t really have any shopping left to do so we are just up for the day to enjoy ourselves. We are just pottering around,” she says.

Shortly before noon, Celine from Co Wicklow is bracing herself for the shops following morning mass in St Teresa’s Church just off Grafton Street.

She admits that she and her friend “shouldn’t really be” in the capital, as public health restrictions stipulate inter-county travel is allowed only if a person has a “reasonable excuse”.

“We are breaking the rules, but it’s quite quiet and we are wearing the masks and being careful,” she says, adding that they live “just over the border”. She missed Mass during the lockdowns and was grateful for the “little oasis of calm” on this holy day.

“It’s nice at my age to get to it,” she says, adding that they travelled specially for the Mass. December 8th is not a day the pair particularly set aside for shopping, she adds.

On Anne Street South, Deirdre O’Donnell contemporary jewellery store has benefitted from a rush of shoppers over the last week. December 8th has “not really been any busier today than normal, but we have had people from all over Ireland come in recently”, she says.

Owner Deirdre O’Donnell’s third Christmas season at her current location, she says she has never noticed an increase in footfall on December 8th.

However, since reopening for business one week ago her store has been “very busy,” she says.

“We weren’t nervous about reopening because it was the second (lifting of) lockdown so we knew what to expect… The footfall has been on a par with last year,” she adds.