Hopefully you are all thankful and grateful for a fantastic Christmas celebration yesterday!
Today is the much celebrated Boxing Day – for many men it’s watching the traditional cricket match and for many women it’s participating in the frenetic sales that take place today.
Boxing day gets its origins from the 17th century where the first week-day after Christmas-day was observed as a holiday on which post-men, errand-boys, and servants of various kinds expected to receive a Christmas-box.
Back in those days, it was a custom for tradespeople to collect “Christmas boxes” of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year.
Also, since others would have to wait on their masters on Christmas Day, the servants of the wealthy were allowed the next day to visit their families. The employers would give each servant a box to take home containing gifts, bonuses and sometimes leftover food.
It came from a custom in the late Roman/early Christian era, wherein metal boxes placed outside churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen, which in the Western Church falls on the same day as Boxing Day.
In recent years, retailers have expanded deals to “Boxing Week”. While Boxing Day is 26 December, many retailers will run the sales for several days before or after 26 December, often up to New Year’s Eve.
For those of you running a retail business, we hope that you have been working on some of the ideas we have posted to capture extra sales during this period, whilst for those of us that are fortunate to be on holidays, try to visit the smaller retail outlets instead of the big multinationals during this period.
There are many bargains to be had from the smaller stores, often with unique stock, exceptional customer service and very appreciative of the custom you do with them!
Have a great day!
