Despite the cold and wet weather and the sales season, smaller retailers are complaining that business is not as good as it might be. Demand should be high for cold-weather clothing and footwear, but the Pimeco association says that the volume of business is down on what it was last year, and this time last year the demand was affected because of the very mild winter.
Pimeco president Bernat Coll attributes this sluggishness to the opening of new shopping centres (one in particular, one imagines), to sales that started before the official sales season, and to online shopping.
Larger retailers, on the other hand, are reporting good business for clothing and heating products. When the weather turned cold a week ago, El Corte Inglés noted a discernible improvement in trade, with many items on offer in the sale.