Christmas shopping boost ends year on cheery note

Feeling festive: Shoppers flocking to pop up shops opened at the Johor Baru City Square shopping centre lobby in Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star

JOHOR BARU: Businesses here selling everything from music boxes to K-pop shirts seem to be thriving, thanks to year-end shoppers.

“We usually sell about 20 of these Christmas-themed music boxes every week,” said souvenir shop worker Shawn Ding Zuo Jun, 20.

This, he said, was despite the rather hefty price tag of RM250.

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“I would say the trend this year is more towards smaller items for decorations, as customers prefer things that are easier to travel with,” he said.

Clothing store worker Wong Zi Jing, 20, said the hot items at his store were Korean pop culture shirts that were being sold for RM139 each.

“We can sell about 30 shirts a week. So far, business has been good,” he added.

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A check by The Star at several shopping malls found employees at most outlets busy attending to their customers, especially those travelling from the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) in Bangunan Sultan Iskandar.

IT department senior executive Diana Fu said she had got almost 80% of the items on her shopping list.

Now, she said, it was just the food and beverages for her family gathering that had not been sorted out yet.

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“I completed shopping for decorations last week,” said Fu, 35.

For this coming week, she said her focus would be on toys for her nieces and nephews and clothes for her parents.

“To date, I have spent about RM400 just on toys and another RM1,000 on decorations,” she said when met at Paradigm Mall here.

Fu, who lives in Yishun, Singapore, said her expenses had not changed much from previous years.

“I noticed that there is a slight increase this year, especially on food items, but so far it is still within my budget,” she said.