Mixed messages for retailers this Valentine's

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Photo: Laura Wild

Florist Bev Richardson says this year she hasn't been as busy on the run up to Valentine's compared to the past

Retailers in Rochdale town centre are receiving mixed messages from shoppers, just one day before Valentine’s Day.

Rochdale Online reporter Laura Wild found that this year more people are buying outfits for a Valentine’s Night out rather than buying gifts – because purse strings remain tight following the recession.

Shabeena Shabbir, from Sparkle Ladieswear on the Walk, said that Valentine’s Day has given her sales a boost following the quiet post Christmas period: “I have had lots of girls coming in to get an outfit to go out in for a Valentine’s meal or a night out to celebrate the day.

Ms Shabbir has an eye catching window display which has attracted many customers in, “People are noticing what I am selling as they walk buy and popping into to but that ‘special’ outfit.”

Bev Richardson, who runs Flower Studio on Yorkshire Street, explained why she thinks traders are struggling: “This year Valentine’s Day just falls at the wrong time, it’s a Sunday; I think we would be busier if it was in the week. But Rochdale is just too quiet on a Sunday for people to come shopping for gifts.

“I am opening tomorrow but I really don’t know what it will be like, perhaps there will be people getting something last minute.

“I think people are really watching what they are spending, people just don’t have the money for Valentine’s Day.

“Girlfriends will be telling their partners not to spend much. I think couples are choosing to just have one thing to mark the day, like a meal or flowers, not both, and I think people would rather go out for a meal. I understand that, but it doesn’t help me!

“It could be recession related, I don’t know, but we have been much quieter on the run up to Valentine’s this year than in any other year.”