At least 800 million leva, or around 400 million euro, were spent by Bulgarians during the ten days of Christmas and New Year holidays, according to the "24 Chassa" daily. The paper cites estimates of the large retailers.

The holiday spending outstripped the previous year's by 60 million or more, according to a survey by Gallupp. Gallupp found that the average family budget for holiday gifts this holiday season was 102.35 leva, which is 18 leva more than the previous year.

The crisis has not scared off Bulgarians, "24 Chassa" comments.

The Technomarket chain for white and brown goods sold thousands of LCD TV sets and some models (going in a package with home cinema systems) were even in short supply, said CEO Nikolai Kitov.

Technomarket ended 2008 with a 23 per cent growth. All days of the holidays were good for it, but December 24 was the strongest by all means.

This year the company launched an on-line purchase options and many saved the time lining at the checkout registers.

Some 200 million leva were spent by buyers in Technolopis, another chain for white and brown goods, at the end of 2008, said owner Bozhidar Kolev. Here again, the best-sellers were the 32-inch LCD TV sets: the December sales exceeded those in November three-fold.

Technopolis have felt the crisis: the sales this December were no higher than the previous December's and there was none of the traditional end-of-year boom in sales.

Because of the strong performance in September, Technopolis will end 2008 with a 20 per cent growth.

The Christmas shopping at the large chains for white and brown goods started on December 12. The sales were also strong for the portable computers, whose the prices have become more competitive than those of desktop computers for a better quality.

The sales of small electric appliances, including toasters, coffee machines and juice extractors, saw a 10-fold increase. After a decline in November, demand picked up for video cameras and digital still cameras.

Demand for mobile phones, too, went up last year, according to Chavdar Peshev, Trade Director with the 2be chain of stores. He believes that it is still early days to speak of a downturn in retail demand.

Another 200 million leva or more were spend during the holidays for presents (other than white and brown goods and other equipment).

Some 300 million leva went for food and drinks. Sales of food and liquor increased by more than 10 per cent, said Stefan Kossev of the Managing Board of the Piccaddilly supermarket chain. The increase is mostly due to the inflation: the amount of purchased food have stayed almost unchanged in the recent years. However, the average value of a supermarket purchase doubled during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Source: BTA