It’s been well documented that times have been tough for high-street retailers over the last few years. We visited a few local high street shops to see how they were faring.

The boom in internet shopping during lockdowns, online Black Friday deals and now the reintroduction of masks at what should be the height of the Christmas shopping boom haven’t helped any of our shops.

In addition to all that, Magazzino on Wellington Street in Douglas is having to deal with having its outside covered in scaffolding at a time when they are in the process of redesigning their website so their trade in the run up to Christmas is all down to footfall.

What it does having going for it is the fact that the shop sells the sort of unusual items it is hard to find anywhere else: quirky Christmas decorations and lights, a huge range of candles, faux sheepskins and throws and big squashy sofas - everything you need to make your Christmas cosy and beautiful.

Mark Eddington, from Magazzino, said: ’Christmas is always fun in here and we seem to find trade very buoyant. Certainly people seem to be shopping locally more than they used to. That could be that, although travel corridors are open, they’re not choosing to travel as much.

’Going across for a day’s shopping has obviously always been part of island life but the footfall here seems to be fairly buoyant. People are supportive of local businesses.’

The charity, Crossroads Care, runs three shops selling a range of items: their Strand Street Boutique sells occasion wear, vintage clothing, accessories and jewellery.

’We stayed open late on the Thursday when it was the switching on of the lights and the shop was heaving. We sold a lot of party clothes that night,’ says Crossroads CEO, Jackie Betteridge.

She believes that people now appreciate the ethical reasons for buying vintage, or secondhand, especially where it is also benefitting a local charity.

She says: ’We sell completely across the board, so it could be handbags, it could be shoes, it could be coats, it could be absolutely anything but people understand recycling, I think, far better than they’ve ever done.’

Their recently opened new furniture showroom at Milmount, New Castletown Road, relocated from Windsor Road, is also reporting brisk business.

’I think we are doing extremely well. We are very grateful to the community of the Isle of Man: we’ve had amazing donations and we are having a really good season of selling.

’Retail is very good for us.’

Andy Corrie, area manager of the Manx Cooperative Society, also heads the local economy forum for the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce.

He said: ’For many retail, hospitality and lifestyle businesses Christmas is the busiest time of the year. Local businesses are geared up to serve their customers this festive season and were looking forward to a bumper festive season.

’Recent increases in Covid case numbers and the fears around the omicron variant do, however, seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of local shoppers and one local retailer has reported a downturn of 35% versus the same week last year following the government’s press conference last week.

’Local businesses provide a safe shopping environment, excellent service and a unique Manx experience. So the message to shoppers this Christmas is to please support your local Manx family businesses. It is business as usual this Christmas, just with a mask!’