The Otago Daily Times pounded the pavement yesterday to gauge retail activity in George St.
Most of the retailers that spoke to the ODT said the earlier Black Friday sales had eaten into Christmas spending.
Paper Plus Dunedin assistant manager Daniel Buchanan said Christmas falling in the middle of the week might have also played a part.
"So, honestly, trading does feel like it’s sort of peaked at the end of Black Friday.
"We had those massive deals falling just before Christmas.
"We had customers coming in at the time saying, ‘we’re buying for Christmas now’ [during the Black Friday period].
Weatherall Jewellers owner Brent Weatherall said the number of sales were on a par with last year, but on average spending was slightly down at the store.
"But that’s a sign of the times we live in.
"For sales, Christmas gets later and later every year.
"I just think that people get somewhat stressed with getting around town.
"I know that the [traffic] congestion has been diabolical."
Acquisitions co-owner Richard Thomson said the economic climate had been tighter than last year.
"If we go back a year, everybody was predicting that the recession would end this year and we’d be seeing improvement in the second half of this year.
"Clearly, that’s now been pushed out into the second half of next year.
"Obviously, that still feels like a long way away for a lot of retailers."
Mr Thomson said it was possible that a lot of people knocked off work on Friday.
"There will be perhaps a bit more spending [today and tomorrow] than there might have been otherwise, but my prediction at the moment is that we will see a reduction."
Meanwhile, the Westpac McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index rose 7 points to 97.5 this month.
While that was still a bit below long-run averages, it was the most upbeat New Zealand households have been in three years.
Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said while confidence had picked up, most New Zealand households were not planning to go on a spending spree this holiday season.
"Although the pressure on their finances is easing, most households are keeping a close eye on their purse strings and remain reluctant to make big-ticket purchases for now.
"However, we are spending more in bars and restaurants."
