Salt trumped lingerie as hottest item under tree this year

A Christmas coated in ice for most Canadians put salt ahead of lingerie on many last-minute wish lists this year, experts say.

Women’s fashion brands from La Senza to Reitmans bore a disproportionate share of the pain stemming from the late December ice storms that had many heading for Canadian Tire or Rona rather than the mall.

With December sales dropping by between five and seven per cent at Reitmans and La Senza, respectively, it looks like many spouses skipped the last-minute trip to the mall altogether.

Reitmans posted a 5.2 per cent dip in store sales last month, compared to an increase of 1.6 per cent over the previous three months (compared to a year earlier), a new research note published Friday shows.

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La Senza, owned by L Brands, posted a 7 per cent decline compared with flat results in November, analysts from Montreal-based credit union Desjardins said.

READ MORE: Ice storm power outage triggers run on generators

Need further proof shopping malls east of the Rockies felt a chill from the barrage of ice storms?

Sears Canada, with 118 department stores located within indoor plazas across the country, posted a drop of 4.4 per cent in store sales through December.

A better picture of whether or not those Christmas gift dollars were instead spent on efforts to shovel and salt driveways or get the lights back on with a new generator will come on Feb. 13. That’s when Canadian Tire reports its financial performance for December.

Experts are betting that’s exactly what happened.

“Home improvement retailers, which have modest seasonal gift-giving businesses, may have been the only potential beneficiaries of the ice storm in Eastern Canada as consumers sought products to deal with the immediate situation,” Desjardin analyst Keith Howlett said.

And with storms of ever bigger magnitude seemingly ripping across provinces with increasing frequency, it seems a shift in tastes from lingerie to ice scrapers may be here to stay.

“Going forward, Canadian Tire and home improvement retailers may benefit from consumers taking greater precautionary measures against future severe weather events,” Howlett said.