SOME will spend the day perched on the couch watching the opening day of the Boxing Day Test.
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Others will choose to spend today sleeping off a Christmas hangover.
But for some of the city’s retailers, it can mark one of the biggest days of the year.
Thousands of shoppers are expected to converge on Peel Street and the city’s major shopping centres to snare a bargain in the Boxing Day sales.
Only essential services, such as chemists and cafes, were able to open before that.
Employees last year told The Leader sales had been up on previous years, with more and more locals embracing shopping on Boxing Day in the city.
But many other retailers, cafes and restaurants are expected to again take advantage of the two-day-straight public holidays and open on Thursday.
It’s a trend Tamworth Business Chamber Jye Segboer would like to see stick around.
“Not a lot of retailers do open (in Tamworth on Boxing Day),” Mr Segboer said.
“It’s predominantly the larger national chain stores that we do see open, while the independent locally-owned boutiques do usually close.
“A lot of cafes and restaurants also cafes also close. It’s traditionally a day most people will close.”
Mr Segboer doesn’t expect Tamworth to follow suit of its metropolitan cousins, who rush out to bag a bargain every Boxing Day.
“One of the great things about living in a regional area is that we’re not exposed to that,” he said.
“I think it’s important to respect that everybody deserves time off around Christmas to spend it with their family and friends.”
According to the Retail Council’s Christmas Spending Index, shoppers forked out an estimated $2.45 billion in NSW between Boxing Day and New Years Eve last year.
At Tamworth Shoppingworld on Boxing Day, Woolworths will be open from 8am to 8pm and Big W from 9am to 5pm, with some specialty stores opening between 10am and 2pm.
Tamworth Square will also throw open its doors on Boxing Day, with specialty stores open from 10am to 4pm, and both Coles and Kmart open from 8am to 6pm.
Centrepoint Tamworth will open from 10am to 4pm, with some specialty retailers opening from 9am.
The Atrium will remain closed on Boxing Day.
