How are Quebecers doing Christmas shopping a few days before Christmas? Is the crowd there?
• Also read: 'I think we give too many presents': How much do Quebecers spend this Christmas?
Our journalists Anne-Sophie Jobin and Marie-Pier Roy visited a shopping center and shops specializing in pastry and catering services.
TVA News
Although consumers plan to spend slightly more than last year, their habits are changing with inflation.
At Les Galeries de la Capitale shopping center you will find customers looking for deals or planning their budget.
“We are trying to ignore it and will see after the holidays. We look to the future from a good perspective,” said a Quebecer.
According to the Retail Council of Canada, Quebecers plan to spend an average of $663 during the holiday season.
That amount rises to $898 if we include the Canadian average, the report says.
TVA News
What about the menu?
While caterers' order books are currently mostly full, a new trend is emerging in the industry.
Demand appears to be diminishing as Quebecers review their spending.
Catering entrepreneurs told TVA Nouvelles that customers were “concerned” about the inflation context.
“That’s what’s on the bill today […] It is true that today, when you put around fifty dollars in a Christmas book or a dessert, together with all the Christmas gifts and all the things that we have to buy during this period, this year you feel that the budget is a little smaller is,” said the founder of the bakery Ô Petit Paris, Maxime Mottier.
TVA News
The chef and owner of a caterer on Montreal's south shore believes the drop in traffic at her business could be due to public sector strikes.
“We have the feeling that people are more frugal […] We see that people are worried,” said Ginette Lanoue, chef and owner of Artoun Traiteur.
*See our journalists' explanations in the video above*