Your Business Sector is :

Food/ Café    ( 15% )     Giftware/Cosmetics  ( 5% )        Ladies Fashion ( 10% )

Services ( 25% )    Tourism ( 5%  )     Retail ( 35% )        Art/Gallery (  5% )

Was your Business in Sale before Christmas?

Yes (  5% )     No ( 95% )

Do you think that you had a greater turnover for Christmas 2016 when compared to Christmas 2015 ?

Yes (  70% )   No ( 25%  )    N/A ( 5% )

Were you aware of the incentives being offered to increase footfall, such as Gorey’s Golden Receipt, Park & Win Saturdays and Late Night Fridays?

Yes ( 100% ) No (     )

Did you actively participate in these incentives?

Yes ( 58% )    No ( 32%  )    N/A  ( 10% )

Do you feel that the above incentives had :

Negative Effect (  74% )      Positive Effect (  21%  )       No Effect ( 5% )

Do you feel the Big Switch On & Christmas Market had an impact on your Business?

Yes ( 37% )    No ( 58% )     N/A ( 5% )

Were you aware of other businesses plans for the Christmas period?

Yes ( 58% )    No ( 31%  )    N/A (11%)

Were you aware of the range of Christmas attractions in Gorey & North Wexford?

Yes ( 95% )    No ( 5% )

What are your thoughts on Gorey as a Christmas destination in comparison to surrounding towns & cities?

Anon - Gorey is an amazing town for shopping. However, its greatest threat in online shopping. On a rent post on Gorey Buy & Sell Facebook page, I saw a query as to where in Gorey sells Superdry products. The answer is Funges but the first ten replies online sites and even places in Dublin. Finally someone said Funges but I thought it was very interesting. And not in a good way.

Anon - Good but has to be worked on to keep ahead.

Anon - Gorey is a super destination, offering a vast array of choices for every purpose.

Anon - Gorey is a vibrant and busy town and had loads to offer in comparison to other local towns with late opening on Fridays in December and the extra incentives that were on offer this Christmas. I think next year the council should offer free parking on Fridays and Saturdays in December as an added incentive to shoppers.

Anon - A huge effort was put into the different events over Christmas and all of this had a good impact on the town of Gorey. Most customer were praising the Christmas lights and how the town looked in general. Wexford town had a train ride in the town which was lovely and attracted a lot of families.

Anon - Gorey looked beautiful again this year. The switch on was a fantastic thing for the people of Gorey. I don’t think it impacted on sales much but it was fantastic to see everyone come out together in their huge numbers to support and take part in the switch on. Everything was run so well this year and have heard no complaints about it. We really enjoyed it. As a tourism business which has been running a Magical Christmas Experience for over 25 years now we believe Gorey to be fantastic destination at Christmas. We have many visitors who travel from all over Ireland & also the Northern counties to visit Santa with us as an annual tradition and stay in the local hotels & B&B’s. Although we are the longest running Santa Experience in the area, we are by no means the only one and we are blessed to have such choice in the area for families and also such a large range of other activities for families following on from this. We are also a fantastic shopping destination for Christmas gifts and the shop owners made a huge effort with their window displays this year. I think that choirs and busking should be encouraged on the Main Street as it really adds to the atmosphere and it was lovely to hear the Loreto School Choir live on the street one of the days. It adds to the beautiful atmosphere. We didn’t make it to the Market but hear that the variety of stalls was limited from our visitors. This is a pity and is something that could be promoted in the future.

Anon - I think it’s an excellent destination. With the Main Street, Esmonde Street, Tesco and the Shopping Centre we have something for most ages.

Anon - I can’t compare however I am glad there is something going on in the town not only from a business point but in general

Anon - I think it’s well up there. It would probably beat any of the towns in Wexford or Wicklow. It’s harder to compete with Shopping Centres but Gorey has many qualities that shopping centre’s can’t offer. The town in general has a wide range of shops, good competition and there is a few in every sector. People like a friendly atmosphere. Good weather this year as we didn’t see as high a drop off on Saturdays. If people had anything to say about shopping in Gorey it was all positive.

Anon - Gorey is by far the Number 1 destination of allthe surrounding towns.

Anon - I think Gorey is a great town for shopping any time of the year. Lack of parking due to volume and costs are an off putting factor for some. Many don’t know about the car parks and think the charge of €1 per hour is off putting. The late opening on Fridyas made no difference, to me anyhow. Once it get cold or dark and if it’s cold people aren’t around that late. I do think more shops need to be on the same wavelength regading Sundays. Opening hours varied from 12 – 3, 12 – 4, 12 – 5, 1-4, 1-5 and so on. The footfall on Esmonde Street has seen a dramatic fall. Even moreso now that a further two more shops have closed down, Primrose Cakes and The Store Room. Soon we will be losing Making Music. In December in particular there was a buzz around Main Street but Esmonde Street was very quiet. Also the music wasn’t on all that often this year.

Anon - The incentives were good but as we are out of town they were not applicable. It will be interesting to see if they have impacted the town.

Anon – Gorey has a lot to offer at any time of the year but for Christmas it is definitely a great place to shop and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere.

Anon – Gorey should continue to position itself at the premier shopping destination on the eastern seaboard and N11 with absolutely no rivals for quality and choice whilst being within a three county radius. Many people north of County Wexford still don’t realize the sheer range on offer in this unique town.

Anon – Although I answered no to the bove 2 questions I feel that indirectly they would have helped my business. All of these ideas and activities create a lovely atmosphere in the town and I feel Gorey has something to offer everyone no matter what age or circumstances so I would support these efforts again in 2017. Gorey comes across as a friendly town with a good business spirit.

Anon – Fantastic, The Christmas lights group put us on the map.