The holiday shopping season figured to be flat for one group of retailers until they got an unexpected boon: a major work stoppage. Somehow it all makes sense.
Stores in Northern Ireland that border the Republic of Ireland were almost caught unprepared for the sudden rush of weekday shoppers gobbling up Christmas gifts. Turns out, a major strike in the Republic of Ireland gave workers there plenty of time off to hustle over to their neighbor country to take advantage of lower prices and holiday specials.
More than 250,000 teachers, nurses and other public sector workers were taking part in the strike against plans to cut their pay. And when 250,000 people in Ireland have no place to go, apparently they go shopping. Things got so busy at one point that the border town of Newry had a five-mile traffic backup into some of its shopping centers.
Managers of the shopping centers said business was similar to what it is just before Christmas. Besides the strike, shoppers are motivated by the lower prices on the UK side of the border, which are the result of the weakness of sterling against the euro and a lower UK value-added-tax.
More good news for Northern Ireland retailers: Labor leaders in Ireland are talking about staging another strike.
