Lucci Hotel Rome Blog

Our Blogger: Jonah

The winter sales (or Saldi in Italian) 2009 in Rome and Lazio will start very soon – Saturday January 3 to be precise.

Queues are formed mainly in front of the luxury shops and major brands, offering for the first time significant discounts and cutting prices up to 40 percent.

It is believed that sales have suffered a drop of 20% in the last year and in Turin sales are expected to fall by 10-15 per cent. A Sky survey showed that 73 per cent of consumers will spend less in 2009.

Due to the persistent rain and the three day bridge holiday of the Epiphany in Italy, the shops were not taken by storm. In most commercial streets, such as Via Cola di Rienzo and Via Appia and the Trident, people converged but not many were forming queues. However, the district shopping centres proved as popular as ever.

The most popular brands however, on the whole have recorded a good turnout, but the smaller shops are finding it hard to offset the poor sales of the season. Around Via Condotti, the longest queue was formed in front of the windows of Fendi and Fay, while Gucci- which offers discounts of up to 40 per cent – and Burbery and Hermes attracted some crowds. Groups of people were waiting to get into Dolce & Gabbana, Tod’s, Brian Cress and Swarovsky; others into Diesel and Luisa Spagnoli, and Max Mara, where the discounts range from 15 to 40 per cent. The biggest advantage goes to Armani and Prada, where bags have been reduced by up to 40 per cent and clothing by 50 per cent.

Thinking of doing the winter sales in Rome? Why not stop by at Yes Hotel. Being so well located to all the shopping strips, a stay in the capital couldn’t be easier.