Shopper not a ‘happy bunny’ as one Limerick store is all stock, no sparkle

THE LACK of twinkling Christmas lights and festive decorations caught the attention of one Limerick shopper, who is worried that flagship stores “are now ignoring Christmas”.

Joanna Cripps lives in Glenroe and is originally from Buckinghamshire in the UK. She has shopped in Dunnes Stores Childers Road weekly for the last 10 years.

She noticed that this year, the store seems to be lacking festive cheer at the entrance and outside.

According to 68-year-old Ms Cripps, Dunnes stands out for its sudden “opting out of Christmas”, considering that in other years, “they had Christmas decorations adorning the store”.

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“It might seem like a little thing and it is in comparison to what’s going on in the world at the moment, but I’m sure in past years they had Christmas decorations adorning the store,” the retired judge said.

“They do sell them, but they haven’t made an effort with Christmas music or lights - I just find it all very strange.”

Saying that she asked the manager at the Childers Road branch about the store skipping Christmas, the response was that “corporate said they weren’t going to decorate this year”.

“It’s never overwhelmingly decorative, but they do normally make a bit of effort.

“Dunnes is a flagship organisation within Ireland and if they don’t set standards, other shops next year might think ‘well they didn’t bother, so I’m not going to bother’.

“I travel an hour every week to shop there and in my opinion, Dunnes is fantastic. I feel extra let down this time of year, because you want your spirits lifted.

“It seems to me that the watering down of traditional celebrations has already started and I’m not a happy bunny regarding it.”

Ms Cripps added that she has a “passion” for keeping tradition alive and that she is mostly worried for future generations.

Dunnes Stores isn’t the only issue that she has with the “watering down” of Christmas, but that it also worries her that people don’t tend to send Christmas cards, that there is no Midnight Mass in her locality and that there are very few carol services and nativity plays.

Dunnes Stores Childers Road has been contacted for comment. At time of publication, no reply was received.