Santa"s bag still has presents, in spite of the crisis

Christmas is rapidly getting closer, and we all try to put the bad behind us and we want to become better and more generous. December has always been the time of gifts, when stores fill up and every one of us buys something for our loved ones.

Adriana Piţa, the communication manager of the hypermarket chain "real-", said that buyers were more pragmatic in 2010 than they were last year, as consumers opted for less expensive gifts, adapted to the current economic period. Thus, according to him, "aside from toys, which have sold very well lately, sweets, flowers, drinks and fruit were last week-end"s best sellers ".

Even though children remain Santa"s priority, the elves haven"t forgotten the adults, and have filled Santa"s bag with cosmetics, gadgets, drinks, clothes and shoes, according to the officials of "Carrefour", who said that sales of these categories of products remained at a similar level compared to last year.

The useful products remain consumer favorites, with many of those who buy gifts opting for Christmas tree decorations, as well as accessories and household decorations.

Mihaela Mureşan, the marketing director of IKEA Romania, has said that over 80% of Christmas inventory had been exhausted by mid-December: "In total, we had over 250 items, with prices starting at 1.99 lei (50 meters of gift ribbons) and going over to approximately 100 lei (a three-armed Christmas table chandelier). The predominant colors for this year were red, blue, white, silver and black. Swedish decorations were very popular, such as manually woven straw decorations and shining stars for the windows".