Goodbye Greed: It's A Caring, Sharing Christmas
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday December 24, 1991
Extravagant presents are out. Instead people are buying gifts that can be shared by the whole family at home. And home is where most of us will be spending the festive break.
"The days of conspicuous consumption are over," said the general manager of K mart's public affairs unit, Mr John Jukes.
"People are returning to more traditional values."
The recession had made people look for cheap entertainment in the home.
"People are turning back to roller blades, bicycles and board games, things that they can all use together again and again without paying for them again and again," Mr Jukes said.
Pool accessories, garden settings and furniture - used by all the family -had all sold well.
A spokeswoman for Grace Bros, Ms Christine Bookallil , said parents were spending on children rather than other adults.
"The whole trend is parents wanting to give their kids a happy Christmas,"she said. "They are buying board games and anything else they can enjoy as a family."
Mr Eric Stevenson, director of counselling and family mediation at UNIFAM, the Uniting Church's family counselling service, said people had "learnt painful lessons" from the decade of greed.
"Hopefully we are passing away from selfish preoccupation," he said. "There seems to be a greater amount of sharing in families.
"Parents have re-learnt that it is important to be with their children, not just make money for them."
Grace Bros had predicted good sales of electrical goods such as video cassette recorders and stereo systems, but found instead that people were buying video tapes and compact discs. Sales of CDs have been high as their price has dropped from $28 to $19 in the weeks before Christmas.
Grace Bros' free gift-wrapping stands have been popular as people try to save a few dollars on wrapping paper.
And while there has been the usual last-minute rush to buy presents, the use of lay-bys has increased greatly, another sign of a drop in disposable income.
The lay-by section at K mart has been very busy for six months and at David Jones, lay-bys are up 25 per cent on last year.
But David Jones's chief general manager, Mr Laurie Elliott, said sales of confectionery had increased dramatically - a sugar fix for the economy.
"You can get a box of Belgium chocolates for under $20, and sales of presentation packs of them has been incredible," he said.
"It's interesting that the famous Australian chocolates like Cherry Ripes all came out during the Depression. It's a quick fix."
A butcher at Collaroy Beach, Mr Bob Stephens, said: "People are buying half hams and small chickens and turkey. They just haven't got any money."
And Mr Alfred Bakhos of Burwood Cellars said: "People are buying $10 bottles of champagne instead of $20 bottles. And they also seem to have discovered that the $20 it costs for a bottle of scotch buys two bottles of wine."
So it's a Happy Christmas, recession permitting.
© 1991 Sydney Morning Herald